World War II (1939–1947)
Mauretania sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 17 June 1939 under the command of Captain Arthur Tillotson Brown (who had delivered the previous Mauretania to the shipbreakers), after remaining in New York for a week she returned to Southampton via Cherbourg on Friday, 30 June 1939. Like RMS Aquitania, 25 years before, Mauretania was to experience only the briefest period of commercial operation before the outbreak of hostilities halted this work for over six years. Returning from the next voyage, Mauretania called at Southampton,[1] Le Havre and finally London where she berthed in the King George V Dock. From August she was switched to the London- New York service for which she was intended. Here she supplemented MV Britannic (1929) and MV Georgic (1931) on the London to New York service.[3] On 11 August 1939 she left on her final prewar voyage to New York. She began her return voyage on September 30, and on October 2 the German English-language radio broadcast from Hamburg issued a veiled threat against her.[4] On her return she was requisitioned by the government. Mauretania was armed with two 6 in guns and some smaller weapons, painted in battle grey, and then despatched to America at the end of December 1939.
For three months the ship lay idle in New York, docked alongside RMS Queen Elizabeth, RMS Queen Mary, and the French Line's SS Normandie,[1] until it was decided to use her as a troopship. On 20 March 1940 she sailed from New York to Sydney, via Panama, to be converted for her new role.[1] This conversion work was carried out in April.
In May 1940, RMS Mauretania departed Sydney as part of Convoy US 3, one of the largest Australian and New Zealand troop convoys of the war, transporting Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) and the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) troops. The convoy included Queen Mary, Aquitania, Empress of Britain, Empress of Canada, Empress of Japan, and Andes. Mauretania herself carried about 2,000 troops. In total, the seven troopships transported approximately 17,500 personnel to the United Kingdom, routed via Cape Town and Freetown, and arriving in the River Clyde on 16–17 June 1940 under final escort by HMS Hood.[5][6][7][8]
Other notable liners in this great convoy were RMS Empress of Britain (1931), RMS Empress of Canada (1928), RMS Empress of Asia, and SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1937). During the early stages of the war the ship transported Australian troops to Suez, India and Singapore but later she mainly served in the North Atlantic. In addition she shuttled Italian prisoners of war from the Middle East to South Africa, for internment, after their defeat in North Africa. Like Aquitania, she amassed over 500000 nmi during the course of her war duties, first crossing of the Indian Ocean, then working the Atlantic with American and Canadian troops and finally serving in the Pacific. One of her wartime voyages, of 28662 nmi, took her right around the world, taking 82 days to complete. During this epic voyage she established a speed record for the crossing time from Fremantle, Australia to Durban, South Africa. The 4000 mi distance was covered in 8 days and 19 hours at an average speed of 21.06 kn. Another wartime troop transport voyage began in New York on 10 May 1943 and ended in Bombay on 24 June 1943, with calls en-route at Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Diego-Suarez. On 8 January 1944 she was involved in a minor collision with the American tanker Hat Creek in New York harbour.
During World War II, she travelled 540000 mi and carried over 340,000 troops. Mauretania was not designed to be an exceptionally fast ship and during six years of war duty, her engines had received little attention but still achieved a turn of speed in 1945 making the passage from Bombay to the UK via the Cape at an average speed of 23.4 kn.
After the war's end, Mauretania made several further voyages for the government repatriating troops.[1] This mainly took the ship to Canada and Singapore. In addition, she made at least one voyage from New Zealand via Australia and South Africa to Liverpool. Women and children were crammed ten to a cabin in the bunks used by the troops, while the men were in "dormitories" for sixty, sleeping in hammocks. On that voyage she sailed from Cape Town on 10 September 1945. She was delayed for three days off Liverpool by strong winds, and finally docked on 25 September.[9] Mauretania took the first dedicated sailing of British war brides and their children being patriated to Canada to join their husbands, landing at Pier 21 at Halifax, Nova Scotia in February 1946.
On 2 October 1946 she returned to Liverpool, was released from government service and immediately went into Gladstone Dock to be reconditioned by Cammell Laird & Co. for return to Cunard-White Star service.[1]
