| RMS Mauretania |
| Design and Construction |
| Prewar Years |
| Service for Her Country |
| Return to Normalcy |
| A New Generation |
| Mauretania Specifications |
Mauretania was at sea and on her way to New York on 4 August 1914, when Great Britain declared war on Germany. The British Government requested the requisition of all three large Cunarders, Lusitania, Mauretania, and Aquitania as armed merchant cruisers, but their huge size and fuel consumption meant that they were unsuited for that role. They resumed civilian service on 11 August 1914, but the lack of traveler demand led to Mauretania being laid up on 26 August (with Aquitania as well), with only Lusitania serving passengers.
After Lusitania’s sinking in May 1915, Mauretania was considered to fill in for the sunken sister on the North Atlantic trade, but the British Government wanted her to serve as a troopship for the Gallipoli campaign later that May. Mauretania made several trips to Mudros Bay on the Greek Island of Lemnos, where the Allies had based their operations for the area. A submarine attacked her, but she was able to avoid the torpedo due to her high speed and her crew’s effective seamanship.
With mounting Allied casualties, at the end of August, Mauretania returned to Liverpool to be converted into a hospital ship. Her grey paint was covered over with white paint and Red Cross insignias. She left Liverpool on 21 October to assist with the evacuation of Gallipoli. She continued to serve as a hospital ship with Aquitania and White Star’s Britannic until the completion of her last voyage on 25 January 1916.
On 29 September 1916, the Canadian Government requisitioned Mauretania to carry Canadian troops. The Mauretania was partially repainted to a medium grey for this service. Through November, she made two voyages from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool, where the troops would then head to France. After this service was completed, she was laid up on the Clyde until 1918. The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917. In October 1917, Mauretania took on painter Norman Wilkinson’s dazzle paint scheme, an abstract, camouflage color scheme that was intended to confuse the enemy. She would wear two schemes in total, each with different patterns on port and starboard, although she was back in grey with black hull and funnels by the end of the year.
In March 1918, Mauretania was called up once again, this time to bring American troops to Europe under the command of Captain Arthur Rostron. Mauretania was back in dazzle camouflage and carried over 30,000 American troops before the Armistice on 11 November. During this time, the Admiralty called Mauretania the HMS Tuberose, although Cunard never changed Mauretania‘s name. Near the end of the war, Mauretania was repainted in grey, a color scheme she remained in until being repainted in Cunard livery in 1919.
Rostron helped bring over a ship full of American soldiers 2 days before the Armistice on 11 November. These troops debarked, and 2 days later embarked on Mauretania again. They were the first American soldiers to return home after the war.
Hi,
I was wondering how the Mauretania could have been painted into a camouflage scheme before her service as a hospital ship? Dazzle was not conceived by Wilkinson until early 1917.
Best wishes,
Eric
Hmm. I just double checked. You’re right. Ships would have been painted grey before October 1917.
Hi again,
Maybe I can contribute some further information about this subject from my research. As early as 1914, various ideas for camouflage were being explored. By 1915, a few vessels were painted into other solid colors besides the standard grey you mentioned, such as a soft pink or other pastel colors. These early attempts at camouflage were aimed at “invisibility” (best at sunset) and were abandoned by the summers end. While patrolling the Channel in March, 1917, Wilkinson observed that nearly all vessels were painted in dark, uniform greys from the waterline up as seen in the photographic record of the Aquitania and the Mauretania at Moudros. The earliest Wilkinson dazzle designs date to June and July, 1917 (the early curvilinear designs, such as the design for the S.S. War Shamrock, Type 7.F.X.; seven colors including mauve and yellow). The later geometric dazzle schemes he envisioned were much less colorful and intended to confuse the enemy regarding course and speed. Both solid and patterned camouflage approaches had their basis in Zoology.
After her hospital service in 1915 and 1916, the Mauretania was partially repainted to a medium grey; I have a candid photograph of her at this time showing the work in progress. The well known photocard of the Mauretania at Pier 2 at Halifax on November 16, 1916 appears to show yet another grey repaint further along. I also have a candid of the Mauretania at Greenock in late 1917 that shows her wearing a rather dark, subdued grey with black hull and funnels. Behind the Mauretania is the new Orient liner Ormonde, wearing an early curvilinear scheme of her own. The Mauretania would wear two schemes in total, each with different patterns on port and starboard.
The earliest Wilkinson dazzle drawing I have seen for the Mauretania is dated September, 1917, but this initial design (Type 19, three greys, two blues and olive green) was ultimately applied to the WSL Olympic instead. The earliest record of the Mauretania wearing her first-applied (curvilinear) dazzle design that I am aware of is a USN port side observational watercolor sketch from one-half mile away, made under clear conditions at 10:20 am one March morning in 1918. It shows the Mauretania in blues, grays, a darker color and an olive green at the stern. There is a corresponding color ONI rendering of the starboard pattern in the National Archives.
The first ship with true, hard geometric dazzle was the HMS Industry, with positive observations of these test schemes reported by the US Navy as early as August 1917. The Admiralty decision to paint merchant vessels, armed merchant cruisers and several warships into dazzle schemes came in October, 1917, after additional favorable reports about the summer tests were received.
The Mauretania’s second dazzle design, the well known and more photographed stripes and diamond scheme (various blues and dark greys), was applied not very long after she was photographed in New York on July 29, 1918. This last scheme was over-painted before March 25, 1919. I thought this scheme lasted a little longer, but a news photograph I just added to my collection shows the Victorious 27TH Div. arriving at New York with the Mauretania’s funnels a dark solid color and her dazzle pattern removed. So, before her Cunard livery was reapplied, she wore a version of the dusky, grey scheme that she started with in 1915; dark grey superstructure with black hull and funnels. She wore this final dark scheme until May, 1919.
Best,
Eric
Hello,
I must correct myself here – the Mauretania wore this final, dark and dusky scheme until after the end of trooping service, June 28, 1919.
Best,
Eric
Hi again,
I ran across a bit more about the March, 1918 U.S.N. watercolor rendering mentioned above of the Mauretania’s first scheme. It was observed and painted by one Percy Hale L??d, a Seaman aboard the USS Amphitrite. From what I am reading, this first curvilinear scheme lasted until at least mid-August 1918; I had it only as sometime after July 29Tth.
Best wishes,
Eric
You seem to know your stuff, Eric.
Hi Ted! I’m a bit late… 😉 When I get time I must submit a reworded version of this page with updated information.