Background
In 1878, Samuel Cunard's British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was reorganised into limited company and offically named Cunard. This capitalisation allowed it to use shareholder money to build larger, more expensive ships. A new policy to this end was put into effect by Cunard's new chairman, John Burns, and announced in the London Times.
Launched on 1 March 1881, Servia was the first of Cunard's new breed of ocean liners. She was the second largest ship in the world at 515 feet long and 52.1 feet wide, surpassed only by Brunel's SS Great Eastern. With her design and construction guided by admirality specifications, Servia had many features that satisfied the requirements for her to be placed placed high on the admiralty's reserve list of the armed auxilliary cruisers, where she could be called into service in times of war.
Read more about this topic: RMS Servia
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