RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner, built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor of the 1911–1917 Laconia. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton to New York City. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and later a troopship. She was sunk in the South Atlantic Ocean on 12 September 1942 by torpedoes. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia was also destroyed by a German submarine. Some estimates of the death toll have suggested that over 1,658 people were killed when the Laconia sank. The U-boat commander Werner Hartenstein then staged a dramatic effort to rescue the passengers and the crew of Laconia, which involved additional German U-boats and became known as the Laconia incident.
Description
Laconia was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was powered by six steam turbines of 2,561 nhp, which drove twin screw propellers via double reduction gearing. The turbines were made by the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company, Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to her passenger accommodation, Laconia had of refrigerated cargo space.
Early career
Laconia was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend, Northumberland. Launched on 9 April 1921, she was completed in January 1922. Her port of registry was Liverpool. Her UK official number was 145925, and until 1933 her code letters were KLWT. As a Royal Mail Ship, Laconia was entitled to display the Royal Mail "crown" logo as a part of her crest.
Round the World
On 21 November 1922, Laconia began an around-the-world cruise, a charter by the American Express Company, which lasted 130 days and called at 22 ports, carrying 347 passengers, mostly leisure travelers. This was the first continuous circumnavigation of the world by passenger liner, a voyage later dubbed the first world cruise.
Regular Route
The Laconia primarily sailed on Cunard's Liverpool-Boston-New York transatlantic service from late Spring to early Winter while she was employed in extended cruises to warmer climes from January to April.
Collisions
On 8 September 1925, Laconia collided with the British schooner Lucia P. Dow in the Atlantic Ocean east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States. Laconia towed the schooner for before handing the tow over to the American tug Resolute. By 1930 her call sign was GJCD, and in 1934 this superseded her code letters. On 24 September 1934 Laconia was involved in a collision off the US coast, while travelling from Boston to New York in dense fog. It rammed into the port side of , a US freighter. Both ships suffered serious damage but were able to proceed under their own steam. Laconia returned to New York for repairs, and resumed cruising in 1935.
Drafted into war service
On 4 September 1939, the Admiralty requisitioned Laconia and had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser. By January 1940 she had been fitted with eight six-inch guns and two three-inch high-angle guns. After trials off the Isle of Wight, she embarked gold bullion and sailed for Portland, Maine and Halifax, Nova Scotia on 23 January. She spent the next few months escorting convoys to Bermuda and to points in the mid-Atlantic, where they would join up with other convoys.
On 9 June, she ran aground in the Bedford Basin at Halifax, suffering considerable damage, and repairs were not completed till the end of July. In October her passenger accommodation was dismantled and some areas filled with oil drums to provide extra buoyancy so that she would stay afloat longer if torpedoed.
During the period June–August 1941 Laconia returned to Saint John, New Brunswick and was refitted, then returned to Liverpool to be used as a troop transport for the rest of the war. On 12 September 1941, she arrived at Bidston Dock, Birkenhead and was taken over by Cammell Laird and Company to be converted. By early 1942 the work was complete, and for the next six months she made trooping voyages to the Middle East. On one such voyage the ship was used to carry prisoners of war, mainly Italian. She travelled to Cape Town and then set a course for Freetown, following a zigzag course and undertaking evasive steering during the night.