Light - 24 ft 04.875 ins
Summer - 31 ft 7 ins
Winter - 30 ft 11 ins
Freeboard
(distance from waterline to 1st open deck)
Light: 28 ft 08.375 ins
Summer: 21 ft 09.5 ins
Winter: 22 ft 05.5 ins
Heights above waterline
(Add 31 feet basic draught for height from keel)
Top of mainmast: 191 feet
Top of funnel: 117 feet
Bridge Deck: 71 feet
Crow's Nest (Height of eye): 147 feet
Stem to After Wing of Bridge
195 feet
Stern to After Wing of Bridge
520 feet
Power Specifications / Capacities
Boilers
6 off Yarrow type
Engines
Impulse action turbines
Service horsepower
28,000
Steering Gear
Electro-hydraulic (Four ram type)
Telemotor from Navigation Bridge
Propeller
Pitch: 18.42 ft
Diameter: 18 ft 09 ins
Tip to Keel: 1 ft 07½ ins
The RMS Caronia, Britain's largest post-war liner, was built by Messrs. John Brown and Company
Ltd., Clydebank, Scotland, who also constructed such famous Cunard liners as the old “Caronia”
of 1905, the “Queen Mary” and “Queen Elizabeth.” Her keel was laid down in February, 1946, and
the launching was performed on October 30, 1947, by H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth.
Frank Hughes writes…
“Discovered the picture of the waiter on brochure tour Pt 1 entitled, Flambe Service. [seen right] He is
my late cousin, Les Harrison from Liverpool. He was a Head Waiter on both of the Queens.” The photo is
believed to be on the Queen Elizabeth.
The Caronia sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg on January 4, 1949. The
new ship has an overall length of 715 feet, a moulded breadth of 91 feet and a draught of 30 feet. Her
34,183 gross tonnage ranks her as one of the largest liners now in luxury service. On the North Atlantic
the Caronia carries 932 passengers; on cruises her capacity is limited to approximately 560 - all First Class.
The Caronia is propelled by twin-screw triple expansion impulse reaction turbines, and has four generators,
each consisting of a 1,100-kilowatt 220-volt direct current dynamo driven by steam turbine.
There are ten decks aboard the liner: Sports, Sun, Promenade, Main, A, Restaurant, B, C, D and E. She has
thirteen public rooms and two restaurants - all air-conditioned: Verandah Café, Observation Lounge,
Cocktail Bar, Main Lounge, Writing Room, Smoking Room, Library, Theatre, Gymnasium, two Garden Lounges,
After Cocktail Bar and Smoking Room.
Afternoon Tea on Caronia's Prom Deck aft
Especially designed for warm weather cruising, the Caronia has been painted in four shades of pale green,
since light colours are cooler in the Tropics. The hull of the liner has also been insulated internally
which helps to prevent the sun's rays penetrating and thus raising the temperature below decks.
The total weight of the gigantic funnel and machinery it contains is 125 tons. The structure has a fore
and aft length of 53 feet (nine feet longer than either funnel of the Queen Elizabeth, the World's largest
liner), a breadth of 26½ feet and a height of 46 feet. More than 2,500 fluorescent tubes and 10,000
incandescent lights are installed in the Caronia. The power plant on board is capable of supplying full
electrical requirements for a city of 150,000 persons.
Each of the six special launches carried by the Caronia to land passengers at cruise ports was built in an
individual slipway at Renfrew and launched into the Clyde just as was the Caronia herself. Each launch has
a capacity for 60 passengers and is 45 feet long, with a beam of 15 feet and a depth of six feet. Driven
by 130 horsepower diesel engines, the boats have a speed of ten knots fully loaded. To accommodate the
launches, special sets of gravity davits were designed and are the largest ever fitted on an ocean liner.
One of the largest and most modern seagoing laundries ever installed in a ship services passengers aboard
the Caronia. It is comparable in size to a commercial plant ashore capable of handling the needs of 2,000 people.
Some 570 slave clocks, controlled by a master chronometer, guarantee precision time-keeping aboard the Caronia.
Each stateroom has a silent electric clock, which is automatically corrected at the touch of a button on
the bridge.
There are 700 telephones in the ship. Every stateroom has a telephone fitted for calls to any part of the
world. In order to maintain the Cunard Line's standard of service, the Caronia carries a complement of
592 personnel.
A Justified Pride
Clearly, and justifiably, Cunard were very proud of their new ship. While most of her cruise
brochures were published in America, with all the prices quoted in US Dollars (and were to be
paid only in that currency!), brochures were also produced in the UK.
This page is partly built from information in a UK printed brochure of 1953, Caronia's 4th year of service.
The 3-fold document opens out to feature a full side-section view of Caronia's interior. Other interior
photographs come from a US brochure produced in 1950.
A lot of the hullabaloo over the launch of Cunard's modern Queen Mary 2 almost pales into insignificance when
you read about how unique and advanced the Caronia really was, despite her having been launched nearly 60 years
earlier! The words below are quoted almost verbatim from a 1953 brochure. While you read it, consider for a
moment, how far forward have we really moved in this period…?
Britain's Wonder Ship
Acclaimed by both discriminating Atlantic travellers and seasoned cruise passengers
as one of the most lovely ships to sail the seas, the “Caronia” superbly perpetuates
the Cunard tradition of fine ships.
Her dual purpose design, of a ship perfectly fitted for cruising and suited equally well for
service in the North Atlantic, resulted in a striking exterior, in which are combined all the
feminine grace of a cruising yacht and the majestic proportions of an Atlantic liner.
The graceful curve of her clipper bow, her single, tripod mast set abaft the bridge, and her
great funnel - one of the largest ever built for a passenger liner - all these features are
further enhanced by the colouring, in four shades of green, of the hull and superstructure.
Add to this revolutionary exterior a magnificent range of public rooms, each one of which is
air-conditioned, and many other features, and it will be obvious how successfully the exacting
requirements of this dual purpose design were achieved. It will be obvious, too, that the
completion of the Caronia marked a new milestone in the development of the passenger liner,
that justly deserves her title of “Britain's wonder ship”
George McLeod Paterson
