|
As Cunard continued to rebuild their
fleet after World War One,
Franconia followed their
19,860-ton liners Sythia,
Samaria, and Laconia.
Although only slightly larger than the
previous three ships,
Franconia’s design was a
vast improvement as her interiors were as
grand as that on the largest Trans
Atlantic liners. Franconia set out
on her maiden voyage from Liverpool - New
York June 23rd 1923. Cunard operated her
between this run in summer and cruising
in winter until the outbreak of World War
Two 16 years later. The German invasion
of Poland in September 1939 led to the
British Admiralty requisitioning
Franconia to serve as a troopship.
After a collision with another British
troopship Alcantra October 5th
1939, she had to be put into Malta for
repairs.
Franconia had to undergo
repairs for a second time in 1940 after
being damaged by an Axis aircraft attack.
Following the completion of these
repairs, she went on to be involved in
the invasions of Madagascar, North Africa
and Italy. Some of
Franconia’s luxurious
interiors were reinstalled in 1945 so the
British Prime Minister ‘Winston
Churchill’ and his staff could use
her as their headquarters for the Yalta
Conference (the meeting between Britain,
America and Russia in the Black Sea about
the splitting up of Germany). After the
war in Europe came to an end in May 1945,
she was used to transfer refugees and
emigrants to America before being handed
back to Cunard in 1949.
Franconia’s return to Cunard
saw her deployed on the Liverpool -
Greenock and Quebec run. During one of
these voyages July 14th 1950, she ran
aground one mile off Quebec City after
her steering gear failed. It took tugs
four days to pull Franconia free
and tow her into Quebec for repairs. With
Franconia’s mechanical
problems persisted from then on, Cunard
was eventually forced to take her out of
service in October 1956. Two months
later, work on her dismantling began at
Inverkeithing/Scotland.
|