Cunard Line’s HMHS Mauretania Hospital Ship

IMPORTANT NOTES:

-THIS VESSEL IS NOT INTENDED TO HANDLE STORMS AND EASILY CAPSIZES IN WAVES

-This vessel is designed to mimic the design of the original RMS Lusitania so her interior layout is less than intuitive

For soldiers wounded on the far away battlefields of the First World War, the HMHS Mauretania must have been a sight for sore eyes. This is my miniature replica of the Cunard Ocean Liner, the HMHS Mauretania as she appeared while serving as a hospital ship during World War 1. At 57m long, she fits snugly within the default spawn area and contains many of the same amenities found aboard the real vessel.

This replica depicts the HMHS Mauretania while she was serving as a Hospital Ship during World War One.

SHIP STATS:

Top Speed: 12.2 Knots

Range: 280km

Crew: 10 (2 Officers)

Wounded: 69

Medical Staff: 20

Military Officers: 2

Functional Lifeboats

Functional Anchors

AMENITIES(Forward to Aft)

D Deck:
-Cargo Hold
-4 Boiler Rooms
-Turbine Engine Room

C Deck:
-Cabins

B Deck:
-Mess Hall
-Galley

A Deck:
-Medical Wards

Boat Deck:
-Bridge
-Lifeboats

STARTING THE SHIP
Starting at the aft of the vessel, head into the 3rd Class section at the aft end of A-Deck (the last set of doors along the promenade). Head down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs you should see a hinged door, proceed through that door and down the ladder within. Then continue down the stairs at the base of the ladder.

This should put you in the ship’s Turbine Engine Room. Proceed down the length of the ship, opening the watertight doors separating the boiler rooms, turning the keys on each of the vessel’s 8 boilers labeled "Light Boiler" and press the buttons labeled "Stoke Boilers". Once all 8 boilers are lit, proceed through the next set of doors, this should lead to the cargo hold.

From here, head up the ladder on the opposite side of the cargo hold and turn left. There you should see a set of stairs. Continue up the stairs and turn left. Proceed through the door ahead of you into the 3rd Class Dining Room and head up the stairs across the room (you can turn left or right, they both lead the same place). Once at the top of the stairs. Continue aft onto the ship’s A-Deck Promenade where you will find the stairs up to Boat-Deck.

At the forward end of Boat-Deck you will find the bridge. From there, advance both the Engine Room and Boiler Room Telegraphs and the ship should start moving forward.

SHIP HISTORY
In 1897, the North German Lloyd Line launched the SS Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse, seizing the title of the fastest ship on the North Atlantic. With national pride on the line, the British government knew they had to respond, and they put their faith in the Cunard Line to produce Britain’s answer to these new German ships. Cunard would build 2 new massive ships, using classified Royal Navy technology and experimental engines. These ships would be the Lusitania and the Mauretania.

On August 18th, 1904 the Mauretania’s keel was laid at the John Wigham Richardson Swan Hunter shipyard in Northumberland, England. Though her keel was laid only a day after her sister’s, Mauretania wouldn’t join Lusitania on the North Atlantic until a few months after Lusitania’s maiden voyage, finally putting to sea on November 16th, 1907. When she took to the waves, Mauretania quickly broke her sister’s speed record, firmly claiming the Blue Riband for herself.

My Replica of the RMS Mauretania in her pre-war paint job: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2437069769

My Replica of the RMS Lusitania in her pre-war paint job: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2437066104

The Lusitania and the Mauretania quickly gained the nickname "the Ocean Greyhounds" due to their speed and reliability. With 2 massive, impressive liners steaming the North Atlantic, Cunard gained a significant edge over their competition. In fact, it was the success of these ships that forced the White Star Line to build their Olympic-Class Liners (Olympic, Titanic & Britannic). To counter the larger Olympic-Class & Imperator-Class liners, as well as provide a 3 ship weekly service, Cunard began construction of a 3rd express liner to join the Lusitania and Mauretania, the Aquitania.

Shortly after Aquitania joined the fleet in 1914, The First World War broke out in Europe and Britain was at war. With the outbreak of the war, most passenger traffic on the North Atlantic stopped and many liners were recalled for military service. Mauretania was recalled to Britain, where she was stripped of her lavish interior and left waiting for her first wartime assignment.

In February of 1915 British troops carried out a disastrous invasion of Gallipoli. To facilitate this invasion, many ocean liners were converted to troop ships. The RMS Mauretania became the HMTS Mauretania and took on the duty of transporting troops to fight in the Dardanelles. For this role her hull was painted grey and her funnels painted black. This was to make the ship less noticeable. Mauretania was serving as a troop ship when her sister, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-boat.

When British and French forces began taking heavy casualties, the Mauretania was converted to a hospital ship, becoming HMHS Mauretania. Her hull was painted white with a green stripe and red crosses to signify her new role. Her public spaces were filled with beds for treating the wounded and the maimed. She would serve as a hospital ship until January of 1916.

In early 1916 Mauretania was requisitioned by the Canadian government to transport Canadian troops to Europe. Her public spaces were once again filled with bunks for troops and she reverted to being HMTS Mauretania. She was painted in dazzle camouflage meant to make her harder to target through a periscope. When America joined the war in 1917, Mauretania began transporting American troops as well.

When Mauretania was returned to Cunard in 1919, Cunard was suffering. The reduction in transatlantic passenger traffic as well as the loss of the Lusitania had left the company without a 3 ship fleet of express liners. As war reparations, the Cunard Line was given the German liner the SS Imperator which Cunard renamed Berengaria. Now Cunard had Mauretania, Aquitania & Berengaria running the express routes from the UK to New York.

Throughout the 20s the Mauretania maintained her title as the fastest ship on the Atlantic, even as newer liners were built. In the mid-20s she underwent a series of upgrades that saw her engines tuned and her boilers converted from coal boilers to oil boilers. It was during this era that Mauretania gained many of her loyal fans, including future US president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1929 the German Norddeutscher Lloyd Line launched the Bremen which finally broke Mauretania’s speed record. After holding the Blue Riband for more than 20 years, the award was finally taken from Mauretania. Later that year the world fell into the Great Depression and demand for transatlantic travel waned once again. With newer ships on the North Atlantic outpacing Mauretania, the decision was made to convert her to a dedicated cruise ship. Her hull was painted white to help keep her cool in warmer climates like the Caribbean.

In 1934 the Cunard Line merged with the White Star Line. The new Cunard-White Star Line needed funding to complete their answer to the German Liners, the RMS Queen Mary. To fund the construction, many older liners, including Mauretania were pulled from service and sold for scrap. Mauretania was scrapped in 1935 in Rosyth next to her long time rival, the RMS Olympic.

For more images of my replica of the RMS Mauretania, here’s an Imgur Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/NZc8JQ9