The passenger ship RMS Campania

At that time, these were the largest ships ever to sail the North Atlantic. The ocean liner RMS Campania, for example, could carry 1,700 passengers and 416 crew members at the same time. After the outbreak of World War I, in 1915, the British Admiralty acquired the passenger ship Campania and converted it into an aircraft carrier, but its era was short-lived: in 1918, the military ship RMS Campania collided with a British battleship and sank.

The private twin-funnel ocean liner RMS Campania was one of the fastest and most elite transatlantic passenger ships of its time, crossing the Atlantic in less than six days. It was laid down in 1891 at the Fairfield Shipbuilding shipyard in the Scottish port of Glasgow and launched on 8 September 1892. The ship already had a telegraph (such a device was first installed on a ship of the same type, the Lucania). The passenger ships Campania and Lucania were considered the most luxurious ocean liners, but only for first-class passengers. Mahogany, carpets and expensive furniture were widely used to decorate the passenger cabins. From 1893, passenger ships sailed between Liverpool and New York.

The passenger ship RMS Campania

The ocean liner Campania won the Blue Riband prize for speed twice, in 1893 and 1894, and served as a passenger ship until 1914, even though faster ships already existed. In October 1914, the heavily worn passenger ship was taken out of service and sold for scrap, but the outbreak of World War I drastically changed the life of the old ocean liner.

Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the British fleet, wanted to have a large aircraft carrier in his fleet, capable of performing a variety of tasks, from reconnaissance to fighting German Zeppelin-type airships. On 27 November 1914, the old but still sturdy ocean liner RMS Campania, a long-time record holder for transatlantic crossings and winner of the prestigious Blue Riband, was purchased from the Cunard Line for £32,500. However, the conversion of the passenger ship was delayed because the first option for converting it into an auxiliary cruiser was deemed unacceptable, and the passenger ship was sent back to the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. Of the eight 120 mm guns already installed on the liner, the two bow guns had to be dismantled to make room for the flight deck. The deck was located in the bow of the ship, between the stem and the first funnel. At the stern was a canvas hangar for the airship, and inside the ship were two holds for storing seaplanes: the bow hold for four aircraft and the stern hold for seven.

Ultimately, the passenger ship RMS Campania did not enter service until 17 April 1915. The first flight from the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Campania took place on 6 August 1915, when a Sopwith Schneider light seaplane successfully took off at a speed of 17 knots. However, subsequent tests showed that the flight deck was not long enough for heavy seaplanes to take off and land successfully. Stormy weather in the North Sea made it virtually impossible for aircraft to take off at all. Of the seven times the aircraft carrier went to sea, only three times was it possible to launch an aircraft. On the recommendation of the aircraft carrier's commander, from November 1915 to early April 1916, the flight deck of the aircraft carrier was lengthened and improved at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. The latter was initially 50 m long, but was later increased to 75 m, for which the bow funnel had to be replaced with two funnels spaced apart on the sides. Now, wheeled aircraft and float planes could take off from the deck, for which there were special launch trolleys. It was not until 3 June 1916 that a reconnaissance aircraft took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Campania.

The passenger ship RMS Campania - aircraft carrier

In February 1917, the largest aircraft carrier at the time was equipped with a reconnaissance aircraft designed by Fairey, which was specially named F-17 Campania. Due to a malfunction in its radio station, the aircraft carrier was unable to receive the signal about the deployment of the British Grand Fleet on 30 May 1916 in time. Only after 2 hours and 15 minutes did the aircraft carrier HMS Campania leave the naval base at Scapa Flow. Although the ship could have caught up with and begun to overtake the main forces of the fleet, it was ordered to return to base on the morning of 31 May due to a lack of escort ships and the threat from German submarines.

Later, the aircraft carrier conducted anti-submarine patrols in the North Sea several times, but was suddenly declared unfit for combat operations due to defects in its steam engines. In April 1918, the training aircraft carrier Campania moved from Scapa Flow to Rosyth.

On the morning of 5 November 1918, the warship HMS Campania anchored in the Firth of Forth. A 10-point storm hit, and the aircraft carrier's anchor failed to hold. The wind pushed the ship onto an underwater ram standing next to the battleship HMS Royal Oak, and then dragged it along its entire side. The engine room on the aircraft carrier was quickly flooded from the ram breach, and the lights went out. Soon, the ship began to sink rapidly by the stern and sank within five hours. The aircraft carrier's crew was taken aboard neighbouring ships, and the blame for the loss of the ship was placed on the officer on watch, who failed to give the order to drop the second anchor when the steamer HMS Campania began to drift. Thus, the fate of the unique aircraft carrier and high-speed passenger ship, winner of the Blue Riband of the Atlantic, came to an unexpected end.

The ship ‘RMS Campania’ - sunk