Editing Cunard Line (section)

===Cunard Steamship Company Ltd: 1879–1934===
[[File:House flag of the Cunard Line.svg|thumb|[[House flag]] used by Cunard Line]]
[[File:MandK Captain on Cunard 1901.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Captain (nautical)|captain]] waves aboard a Cunard Line vessel in 1901]]
To raise additional capital, in 1879 the privately held British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was reorganised as a public stock corporation, the '''Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd'''.<ref name=gibbs /> Under Cunard's new chairman, John Burns (1839–1900), son of one of the firm's original founders,<ref name=fox /> Cunard commissioned four steel-hulled express liners beginning with {{SS|Servia||2}} of 1881, the first passenger liner with electric lighting throughout. In 1884, Cunard purchased the almost new Blue Riband winner {{SS|Oregon|1883|2}} from the [[Guion Line]] when that firm defaulted on payments to the shipyard. That year, Cunard also commissioned the record-breakers {{RMS|Umbria|3=2}} and {{RMS|Etruria|3=2}} capable of {{convert|19.5|kn|km/h}}. Starting in 1887, Cunard's newly won leadership on the North Atlantic was threatened when Inman and then White Star responded with twin screw record-breakers. In 1893 Cunard countered with two even faster Blue Riband winners, {{RMS|Campania|3=2}} and {{RMS|Lucania|3=2}}, capable of {{convert|21.8|kn|km/h}}.<ref name=fry />
[[File:Rms etruria.jpg|thumb|{{RMS|Etruria|3=2}} of 1885 (7,700 [[Gross register tonnage|GRT]])]]
[[File:Every boy's book of railways and steamships (1911) (14755838841).jpg|thumb|{{RMS|Campania|3=2}} of 1893 (12,900 GRT)]]
No sooner had Cunard re-established its supremacy than new rivals emerged. Beginning in the late 1860s several German firms commissioned liners that were almost as fast as the British mail steamers from Liverpool.<ref name=gibbs /> In 1897 {{SS|Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse||2}} of Norddeutscher Lloyd raised the Blue Riband to {{convert|22.3|kn|km/h}}, and was followed by a succession of German record-breakers.<ref name=kludas /> Rather than match the new German speedsters, White Star – a rival which Cunard line would merge with – commissioned four very profitable [[Big Four (White Star Line)|Big Four]] ocean liners of more moderate speed for its secondary Liverpool–New York service. In 1902 White Star joined the well-capitalized American combine, the [[International Mercantile Marine Co.]] (IMM), which owned the [[American Line]], including the old Inman Line, and other lines. IMM also had trade agreements with [[Hamburg America Line|Hamburg America]] and Norddeutscher Lloyd.<ref name=gibbs /> Negotiators approached Cunard's management in late 1901 and early 1902, but did not succeed in drawing the Cunard Line into IMM, then being formed with support of financier J. P. Morgan.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cunard and the North Atlantic 1840–1973: A History of Shipping and Financial Management|url=https://archive.org/details/cunardnorthatlan0000hyde|url-access=registration| last1=Hyde| first1=Francis E|year = 1975|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cunardnorthatlan0000hyde/page/139 139]–141|publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780333173138}}</ref>

British prestige was at stake. The British Government provided Cunard with an annual subsidy of £150,000 plus a low interest loan of £2.5&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|2500000|1906|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}),{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} to pay for the construction of the two superliners, the Blue Riband winners ''{{RMS|Lusitania|3=2}}'' and ''{{RMS|Mauretania|1906|2}}'', capable of {{convert|26.0|kn|km/h}}. In 1903 the firm started a [[Fiume]]–New York service with calls at Italian ports and Gibraltar. The next year Cunard commissioned two ships to compete directly with the ''Celtic''-class liners on the secondary Liverpool–New York route. In 1911 Cunard entered the St Lawrence trade by purchasing the Thompson line, and absorbed the Royal line five years later.<ref name=gibbs />
[[File:RMS-Carpathia.jpg|thumb|{{RMS|Carpathia|3=2}} of 1903 (13,555 GRT) became famous for rescuing the survivors of the [[Sinking of the Titanic|sinking of ''Titanic'']]]]
Not to be outdone, both White Star and Hamburg–America each ordered a trio of superliners. The White Star ''{{Sclass|Olympic|ocean liner|0}}'' liners at {{convert|21.5|kn|km/h}} and the Hapag ''{{Sclass|Imperator|ocean liner|0}}'' liners at {{convert|22.5|kn|km/h}} were larger and more luxurious than the Cunarders, but not as fast. Cunard also ordered a new ship, ''{{RMS|Aquitania|3=2}}'', capable of {{convert|24.0|kn|km/h}}, to complete the Liverpool mail fleet. Events prevented the expected competition between the three sets of superliners. White Star's ''[[Titanic]]'' sank on its maiden voyage, both White Star's ''{{HMHS|Britannic|3=2}}'' and Cunard's ''Lusitania'' were war losses, and the three Hapag super-liners were handed over to the Allied powers as war reparations.<ref name=graham />

In 1916 Cunard Line completed its European headquarters in [[Liverpool]], moving in on 12 June of that year.<ref>Liverpool Daily Post 12 June 1916</ref> The grand neo-Classical [[Cunard Building]] was the third of Liverpool's [[Pier Head|''Three Graces'']]. The headquarters were used by Cunard until the 1960s.<ref name=cunard_pdf>{{cite web|url=http://www.cunard.com/images/Content/History.pdf |title=Cunard History at a Glance |access-date=13 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326230808/http://www.cunard.com/images/Content/History.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009 }}</ref> In 1917, Cunard's facilities were co-opted by the [[War Office]] to build aircraft for the expanding [[Royal Flying Corps]], later the RAF.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Learmonth |first1=Bob |last2=Nash |first2=Joanna |editor1-last=Cluett |editor1-first=Douglas |title=The First Croyon Airport 1915-1928 |date=1977 |publisher=Sutton Libraries and Arts Services |location=Sutton |isbn=0-950-3224-3-1 |page=19}}</ref>

[[File:'Aquitania' (1914) RMG G10918.tiff|thumb|''[[RMS Aquitania|Aquitania]]'' of 1914 (45,650 GRT) served in both World Wars]]
Due to First World War losses, Cunard began a post-war rebuilding programme including eleven intermediate liners. It acquired the former Hapag {{SS|Imperator|3=2}} (renamed ''Berengaria'') to replace the lost ''Lusitania'' as the running mate for ''Mauretania'' and ''Aquitania'', and [[Southampton]] replaced Liverpool as the British destination for the three-ship express service. By 1926 Cunard's fleet was larger than before the war, and White Star was in decline, having been sold by IMM.<ref name=gibbs />

Despite the dramatic reduction in North Atlantic passengers caused by the shipping depression beginning in 1929, the Germans, Italians and the French commissioned new "ships of state" prestige liners.<ref name=gibbs /> The German ''{{SS|Bremen|1928|2}}'' took the Blue Riband at {{convert|27.8|kn|km/h}} in 1933, the Italian ''{{SS|Rex|3=2}}'' recorded {{convert|28.9|kn|km/h}} on a westbound voyage the same year, and the French ''{{SS|Normandie|3=2}}'' crossed the Atlantic in just under four days at {{convert|30.58|kn|km/h}} in 1937.<ref name=kludas /> In 1930 Cunard ordered an 80,000-ton liner that was to be the first of two record-breakers fast enough to fit into a two-ship weekly Southampton–New York service. Work on "Hull Number 534" was halted in 1931 because of the economic conditions.<ref name=graham />