Ship model, RMS <I>Mauretania</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1907
label: ship launched
content: 1907
label: broke a time record for transatlantic voyage
content: 1909
label: served as a passenger liner
content: 1919-1934
label: sold and broken apart
content: 1935-04
name: label: ocean liner owner
content: Cunard Steamship Company
label: architect and designer for interior of ocean liner
content: Peto, Harold A.
notes: label: Description
content: The RMS <I>Mauretania</I> was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Company. Designed to be fast and luxurious, the vessel was launched in 1907, and began its first transatlantic voyage on November 16. Carrying a total of 2,165 passengers and 812 crew members, the <I>Mauretania</I> set a world record in 1907, arriving in New York from Europe in five days, five hours, and ten minutes.
label: Description
content: The <I>Mauretania</I> burned 850 to 1000 tons of coal per day depending upon its traveling speed. When running at full speed, the liner boasted the equivalent of 70,000 horsepower. In June 1909 it made the Atlantic crossing in four days, 17 hours, and 21 minutes. This was the fastest time ever recorded, and the <I>Mauretania</I> was awarded the Blue Riband prize. This record stood for 20 years.
label: Description
content: British architect and landscaper Harold A. Peto designed the <I>Mauretania</I>’s interior spaces. Peto created elaborate and luxurious rooms, drawing inspiration from French chateaux and the Italian Renaissance style. It took 300 woodworkers two years to carve the <I>Mauretania</I>’s interior decorations.
label: Description
content: Like other ocean liners, the <I>Mauretania</I> could be converted for military use during times of war. During World War I, the British Admiralty called on the <I>Mauretania</I> to serve as an armed cruiser and hospital ship. The liner was re-painted in dazzle paint, a quilted camouflage technique used to distort the ship’s silhouette and confuse enemy U-boats. The <I>Mauretania</I> carried 33,610 American soldiers across the Atlantic on seven separate voyages. In May 1919 the liner retired from government services.
label: Description
content: That same year, the <I>Mauretania</I> was converted to run on oil. It continued work as a passenger liner until 1934, steaming back and forth across the Atlantic. During its tenure, the <I>Mauretania</I> sailed enough miles to circle the globe sixty times. In April 1935, the <I>Mauretania</I> was sold and broken apart.
label: Description
content: President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a special fondness for the <I>Mauretania</I> and donated this model of the ship to the Smithsonian in 1935.
place: label: sailed from
content: United Kingdom: England
label: sailed to
content: United States: New York, New York
topic: label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.311006
label: accession number
content: 134437
label: catalog number
content: 311006
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: model, ship
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: crate: 68 in x 216 in x 36 in; 172.72 cm x 548.64 cm x 91.44 cm