RMS Franconia (1910)

Cunard Line · 1911 · Ship Guide

Overview

RMS Franconia (1910) was a Cunard liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend and launched in 1910, entering service in 1911. She was designed primarily for Cunard’s Boston service, while also serving Liverpool–New York sailings and winter Mediterranean cruising, making her a useful example of an early-20th-century liner built for mixed North Atlantic and seasonal cruise work rather than pure speed rivalry.

In collecting and interpretation, Franconia (1910) is especially important because her surviving paper trail can belong to several distinct contexts: Boston service, New York service, winter cruises, hospital-ship service, troopship service, and her final wartime loss. These should be separated carefully in cataloging rather than treated as one undifferentiated Cunard identity.

Key Facts

Operator (as built)
Cunard Line
Builder
Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne
Yard number
857
Ordered
August 28, 1909
Laid down
October 8, 1909
Launched
July 23, 1910
Completed
January 21, 1911
Entered service
February 25, 1911 (maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York)
Type
Ocean liner; later hospital ship and troopship
Gross tonnage
18,150 GRT
Net tonnage
11,247 NRT
Dimensions (commonly cited)
600.3 ft length × 71.3 ft beam × 40.4 ft depth
Decks
Seven passenger decks; nine decks overall
Propulsion
Twin-screw steam propulsion with quadruple-expansion engines
Power
About 14,000 indicated horsepower
Service speed
About 18 knots
Passenger capacity
2,610 passengers total: 174 first class, 492 second class, and 1,944 third class
Primary peacetime routes
Liverpool–Boston and Liverpool–New York, with seasonal Mediterranean cruising from New York
Wartime roles
Hospital ship, then troopship in British government service
Fate
Torpedoed and sunk on October 4, 1916, by German submarine U-47 south-east of Malta

Some summaries differ slightly in how they present dimensions, passenger arrangements, or route emphasis. For curator-level precision, it is useful to preserve the exact wording and figures used by the artifact or source being cited. [oai_citation:0‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Design & Construction Context

Franconia (1910) belonged to a Cunard generation built not as ultra-fast record breakers but as large, capable, commercially flexible liners suited to both immigrant-heavy transatlantic traffic and better-class seasonal cruising. She was especially associated with Boston service, and at the time of entry into service was noted as the largest vessel yet to enter Boston Harbor. [oai_citation:1‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

That mixed identity matters interpretively. In liner history, attention often centers on the Liverpool–New York speed race, but ships like Franconia show how major operators also relied on versatile liners that could shift between transatlantic route work and winter cruise markets. This gives the ship a broader documentary range than many single-route liners. [oai_citation:2‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Service History (Summary)

1911–1914: Entered Cunard service with a maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on February 25, 1911, while becoming especially associated with Liverpool–Boston service. She also operated Liverpool–New York sailings and winter Mediterranean cruises from New York. [oai_citation:3‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Mediterranean and emigrant-route context: in addition to her Boston and New York work, summary sources also note Trieste/Fiume–New York service linked to Cunard’s emigrant trade expansion. This means surviving Franconia material can belong to more than one migration and route context. [oai_citation:4‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

1915: Entered British government war service. She served first as a hospital ship and later as a troopship, marking a sharp break from her civilian liner and cruise identity. [oai_citation:5‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Final voyage, 1916: While in troopship service in the Mediterranean, she was torpedoed by U-47 on October 4, 1916, south-east of Malta. She sank with heavy loss of life, including troops and crew. [oai_citation:6‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Interpretive Notes

Name discipline matters: because Cunard later reused the name Franconia, catalog records should distinguish this vessel clearly as RMS Franconia (1910) or the 1910-launched / 1911-entered-service ship. [oai_citation:7‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Boston service should not be overlooked: unlike many Cunard ships that are remembered primarily through New York, this Franconia has an especially strong Boston association. That matters for route-specific passenger lists, port imagery, and local reception context. [oai_citation:8‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Cruise and liner material should not be merged casually: a Mediterranean winter-cruise brochure belongs to a very different commercial and social setting from a Liverpool–Boston immigrant-era passenger list or a wartime troopship record. [oai_citation:9‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Wartime service changes the documentary frame completely: hospital-ship and troopship material should be interpreted separately from peacetime Cunard ephemera, even though they concern the same hull. Same ship, different administrative system, different visual culture, different historical meaning. [oai_citation:10‡Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_%281910%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Evidence-first ship guide

Sources (Selected)

Ship Guides Index Home