SS Imperator - Cunard Service

Cunard Service

The ship arrived at Southampton on Sunday 10 December 1919 and then proceeded to Liverpool for what was planned to be a quick overhaul (she was scheduled to leave on her first voyage for her new owners on 10 January 1920). However, upon inspection, ship was found to be in a poor condition. During the dry docking on 6 January, it was found that the ship's rudder had a piece missing and her propellers were suffering from erosion on their leading edges. These issues were attended to while the ship was re-furnished with items borrowed from the Cunard vessels Transylvania and Carmania.

Due to the extent of the work that had to be carried out, Imperator remained at Liverpool until the 21 February and during this time the company's annual dinner was held on board, before the ship returned to service on the North Atlantic.

On 2 March 1920, the ship left New York and took nine days to reach Southampton. During the voyage, Imperator developed a severe list which was found to be caused by a faulty ash ejector. Cunard decided that the ship was in need of a major overhaul and she was withdrawn from service.

The ship was named after Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard I of England. Many Cunard ships had been named for parts of the Roman Empire and had names that ended in "ia". RMS Berengaria, like many, but not all, Cunard ships, kept the "ia" ending to her name but, like several Cunard ships before and after, was not named after a province of the ancient world.

Sir Arthur Rostron of the RMS Titanic passenger rescue fame and former captain of Carpathia took command of Berengaria on July 1920. The following year both Berengaria and Aquitania were sent to Armstrong Whitworth shipyards to be converted from coal firing to oil.

In September 1925, a security alert at sea was triggered when the Cunard company offices in New York received a message stating there was a bomb aboard the Berengaria; the vessel was then 1200 miles out from New York, bound for Southampton. The ship was searched, and the passengers and most of the crew were not informed as to the reason. A fire–drill was held just before the supposed time of detonation, so passengers could be placed close by their lifeboat stations without arousing suspicion. The bomb–threat was a hoax. Berengaria was again in the headlines in May 1934, when she ran aground on the mud banks at Calshot on the Solent. She was pulled free from the mud by four Southampton tugs. The vessel suffered no damage and the incident did not affect her sailing schedule.

Despite her German heritage, Berengaria served as flagship of the Cunard fleet until she was replaced by her sister ship, Majestic – ex-Bismarck, in 1934 after the merger of Cunard with White Star Line. In later years, Berengaria was used for discounted prohibition-dodging cruises, which earned her the unfortunate nickname "Bargain-area".

Towards the end of her service life, she suffered several electrical fires caused by aging wiring, and Cunard-White Star opted to retire her in 1938. She was sold to Sir John Jarvis, who also purchased Olympic, to provide work for his local region. She sailed for the River Tyne under the command of Captain George Gibbons and was scrapped down to the waterline. Final demolition took place in 1946.

• A rendering of Imperator made at the time of her fitting-out

• The stern of the immense Imperator prior to her launch

• Imperator between 1913–1919

• USS Imperator (ID-4080), at left, and USS Leviathan (ID-1326) at Hoboken, New Jersey

• USS Imperator (ID-4080) off Manhattan Island, New York City