Cunard RMS Berengaria

Antique photo postcard 
Circa 1930's 

     

 Berengaria began her career in Imperial Germany, where she was named SS Imperator. In August 1914, as World War I began, she was laid up at Hamburg and remained inactive for more than 4 years, falling into disrepair. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Imperator was taken over and allocated to the USA for temporary use.

 She was commissioned as USS Imperator in early 1919. After embarking 2,100 American troops and 1,100 passengers, Imperator departed Brest, France on 15 May 1919, arriving at New York City one week later. During that summer, she made three cruises from New York to Brest, returning over 25,000 troops, nurses, and civilians to the United States.

 Not long after her service as an American ship, she was decommissioned and transferred to the British Shipping Controller, and a Cunard captain and crew took her back to Liverpool for much-needed repair. The ship was renamed after the English queen Berengaria of Navarre. Many Cunard ships had been named for parts of the Roman Empire and had names that ended in "ia". RMS Berengaria, like many, but not all, Cunard ships, kept the "ia" ending to her name but, like several Cunard ships before and after, was not named after a province of the ancient world.

 Despite her German heritage, Berengaria served as flagship of the Cunard fleet until she was replaced by her sister ship, RMS Majestic (also German: ex-SS Bismarck), in 1934 after the merger of Cunard with White Star Line.

In later years, Berengaria was used for discounted Prohibition-dodging cruises, which earned her the jocular nickname "Bargain-area".  


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