RMS Saxonia (1954)

Postcard of RMS Saxonia
History
Name
  • 1954–1962: RMS Saxonia
  • 1962–1973: RMS Carmania
  • 1973–1999: SS Leonid Sobinov[1]
Owner
Operator
  • 1954–1971: Cunard Line
  • 1973–1995: Black Sea Shipping Company[1]
Port of registry
BuilderJohn Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland
Yard number692[1]
Launched17 February 1954[1]
CompletedAugust 1954[1]
Maiden voyage2 September 1954[1]
Out of service6 October 1995[1]
Identification
FateScrapped in Alang, India in 1999.[1]
General characteristics (as built, 1954)[2]
Class and typeSaxonia class ocean liner
Tonnage
Length608 ft (185 m)
Beam80 ft (24 m)
Draught28 ft (8.5 m)[1]
Installed power24,500shp
PropulsionGeared turbines from builders, Twin screw
Speed20 knots (37.04 km/h; 23.02 mph)
Capacity125 first class, 800 tourist class
Crew461
General characteristics (as rebuilt, 1963)[1] Ship type=Ocean liner/cruise ship
Tonnage22,592 GRT (1969, 21,370 GRT)
Capacity117 1st class, 764 tourist class
NotesOtherwise the same as built

RMS Saxonia was a British passenger liner built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Scotland for the Cunard Steamship Company for their Liverpool-Montreal service. She was the first of four almost identical sister ships built by Browns between 1954 and 1957 for UK-Montreal service. The first two of these ships, Saxonia and Ivernia were extensively rebuilt in 1962/3 as dual purpose liner/cruise ships. They were renamed Carmania and Franconia respectively and painted in the same green cruising livery as the Caronia. Carmania continued transatlantic crossings and cruises until September 1967 when she closed out Cunard's Montreal service. She and her sister had been painted white at the end of 1966 and from 1968 Carmania sailed as a full time cruise ship until withdrawal after arriving at Southampton on 31 October 1971. In August 1973 she was bought by the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed SS Leonid Sobinov. The ship was scrapped in 1999.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Asklander, Micke. "S/S Saxonia (1954)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  2. ^ a b Miller, William H. Jr. (1995). The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners, 1860-1994. Mineola: Dover Publications. pp. 116. ISBN 0-486-28137-X.