The Cunard Liner Ausonia (2), completed in December 1921, served the UK-Canada/USA service well until 1939 when, with the outbreak of World War II, she was requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser, escorting convoys across the North Atlantic. She was converted to a naval repair ship from 1942 to 1944 and deployed in the Far East, returning home in 1946. Following periods laid up and modernisation she continued to serve the Royal Navy from 1958 to 1964, being scrapped the following year after 42 years of unblemished service.

The first Cunard Liner to be named Ausonia (1) was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Wallsend on Tyne yard, as Tortona for Cairn Line of Newcastle upon Tyne. Tortona was yard No 837, launched on the 18th August 1909, and completed some two months later.

Her dimensions were 7,907 gross tons 5,111 tons net, 450.6’ x 54.2’ x 29.2’. She was powered by triple expansion coal fired steam engines developing 888 nhp with twin screws giving a speed of about 12 knots. Palmer’s Shipbuilding & Iron Co., Jarrow, built the engines across the Tyne from Swan, Hunters’ yard.

Tortona had accommodation for 37 First Class and 1,082 Third class passengers.

In 1911 she was bought by Cunard for their new UK-Canada service and was registered at Liverpool and renamed Ausonia.

On the 11th June 1917 Ausonia was struck at the stern by a torpedo fired by German U-Boat U -55 (Wilhelm Werner) 20 miles south west of Fastnet. The ship was en-route form Montreal to Avonmouth, and one life was lost in the attack, however the ship managed to make Queenstown in Ireland for repairs.

U-55 was a U-51 class submarine, which survived the war being surrendered on the 26th November 1918, after which she was ceded to Japan being scrapped at Sasebo in 1922.

Ausonia finally met her end on the 30th May 1918, under the command of Captain Robert Capper, on a voyage from Liverpool to New York with general cargo, when she was torpedoed, shelled and sunk by German U-Boat U-62 (Ernst Hashagen). The liner was 620 miles west of Fastnet, and 44 lives were lost. Ninety-six survivors were picked up by the Royal Navy Flower Class sloop HMS Zinnia and landed at Bearhaven, Co. Cork.

U-62 was a U-60 class submarine that survived the war being surrendered on the 21st November 1918 and scrapped the following year at Bo’ness.

Several years before the First World War, Cunard started a new service to Canada with eventually five ships allocated to the route. They were the Ausonia (1) Ascania, Andania, Alaunia and the final vessel Aurania, completed during the war.

As mentioned above, Ausonia was lost on the 30th May 1918 by U-Boat torpedo/gun fire. Ascania managed to escape a German U-Boat on the 26th April 1917 after returning gunfire and sailing away. However, she was wrecked on the 13th June 1918 off Cape Ray, Newfoundland.

Andania was sunk by German U-Boat torpedo (U-46) on the 27th January 1918. Alaunia struck a mine on the 19th October 1916 and sank off Hastings.

The U-Boat, UB-67, torpedoed and sank Aurania on the 4th February 1981 off Inishtrahall.

After the war Cunard commenced a building programme and five of the names were perpetuated in the six new ships of the “A” Class built as replacements:-

Antonia of 13,867grt was built in 1921 by Vickers at Barrow. In 1939 she was converted to a Royal Naval repair ship, renamed HMS Wayland and scrapped at Troon in 1948.

Ausonia of 13,912grt was built in 1921 by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. at High Walker.

Andania of 13,405grt was built in 1922 by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn She served in WWII as an armed merchant cruiser and was torpedoed by German U-Boat UA off Iceland in 1940.

Aurania of 13,984grt was built in 1924 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend. She was used as an armed merchant cruiser from 1939 to 1942 and converted to a Royal Navy repair ship in 1942 and renamed Artifex. She was broken up at La Spezia in January 1961.

The name Ausonia originated from the ancient name for Italy and the ship was primarily aimed to cater for the emigrant trade from the UK to Canada. She was a handsome ship with a single, slightly raked funnel, two masts and counter stern. She was powered by oil-fired steam turbines and had a large refrigerated cargo capacity.

Ausonia was launched on the 22nd March 1921 and made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Quebec and on to Montreal on the 31st August 1922. The first voyage from Southampton was on the 21st April 1923. Her dimensions were 13,912 gross tons, 8,527 tons net, 538’ x 65.3’ 39.2’ with a depth of 29.1’. Her construction constituted two steel decks and shelter deck sheathed in wood. The ship’s hull was fitted with ten partly cemented bulkheads.

Ausonia had seven hatches and twenty derricks to serve them.

She was powered by 4 oil fired steam turbines, double reduction gearing to twin screws operating at 7,650 shp giving a service speed of 15 knots. She had 2 double ended and 2 single ended boilers with 24 corrugated furnaces, with a heating surface of 19,440 square feet. As built her passenger accommodation was 510 cabin class and 1,178 third class. A crew of 270 was carried

Her engines, manufactured by the builders, were fitted at the Elswick Yard, which was up river from the main yard. She passed perilously close under the High Level Bridge, where pedestrians shouted greetings to those on the upper decks of the ship.

The features onboard the new ship included a veranda café overlooking the stern, a children’s room and a musician’s gallery. In addition public rooms consisted of a comfortable lounge, writing room, smoke room and dining room. The dining room was equipped with small tables for diners, seating two, four or six people. Forward of the main staircase was a winter garden plus a smoking room and gymnasium.

The third class passenger’s accommodation surpassed that of previous vessels, it being noted as being unusually varied and extensive and based on definite decades styles of the Tudor period. Cabins for third class passengers were for two, or four persons with four large public rooms.

The open and covered promenade areas were more extensive than provided on older ships, and the vessel carried a “conductress” to look after “and advise” unaccompanied women and children.

For the decades of the 1920s and 1930s Ausonia sailed without apparent serious incident between the UK and Canada and the USA from King George V Dock on the Thames, Southampton or Liverpool. In the winter months the voyage to Montreal was terminated at Halifax, NS, when the St. Lawrence was frozen. When sailing from the Thames, Ausonia would also on occasions call at Hamburg to embark third class passengers.

In 1927 to cater for changing trends the ship was refitted to include three classes of passenger, cabin, tourist and third class. However this work was reversed in 1939 when she reverted to cabin and third class only.

On the 6th September 1939 Ausonia was hired as an armed merchant cruiser with the prefix HMS, and taken in hand by Vickers Armstrong on the Tyne to be fitted with her armament which included eight 6” guns, two 3” high angle anti-aircraft guns, two .303 Lewis guns, two depth charge chutes or rails for eight depth charges. The work was completed by 7th November of the same year.

The Royal Navy crew, from Chatham, joined the ship, which was commissioned, into the Royal Navy on the 8th November 1939 under the command of Captain D. Wizey RN. Following minimal trials the ship arrived at Portsmouth on the 13th November 1939 and after spending eight days in the Solent and taking on fuel at Portland she left in storm force winds for Halifax, NS to commence as an escort for Atlantic convoys.

HMS Ausonia was part of the Halifax Escort Force from November 1939 to May 1940 before transferring to the Bermuda/ Halifax Escort Force from June 1940 to April 1941 and the North Atlantic Escort Force May to October 1941. Her convoy duties extended as far as a position south of Iceland where the vessel would re-fuel at Hvalfjord before joining a west-bound convoy.

By late 1940 her command had been handed over to Captain G. Freyberg CBE, and the vessel had a narrow escape just missing the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer that had sunk the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay on the 5th November 1940 whilst escorting a nearby convoy.

In March 1941 Ausonia was refitted at the Harland and Wolff yard at Belfast, surviving several bombing raids and undergoing a further refit, 8th November 1941 to 15th January 1942 at Cardiff. The ship then returned to Halifax, NS in mid February 1942.

Because of an urgent need for heavy repair ships, Ausonia and three of her sisters were identified as suitable for conversion to this type of vessel. In March 1942 approval was given for Ausonia to be converted and she departed from Bermuda on the 24th March 1942 for Portsmouth. Her duties on the North Atlantic earned her the Battle Honour, Atlantic 1939-41.

On the 3rd May 1942 Ausonia paid off as an armed merchant cruiser, and began conversion at Portsmouth Dockyard. However work progressed slowly and it was not until the 2nd May 1944 that the ship re-commissioned.

Ausonia sailed for trials to the Clyde and on the 11th June 1944 she departed for the Far East arriving at Kilindini on the 12th July, where she remained for the next two months. In September 1944 she sailed for Aden where she remained until May 1945 before sailing again for Bombay where she underwent a refit. Following the refit Ausonia was based at Trincomalee for 12 months, leaving the Far East on the 14th June 1946 for the UK, arriving at Greenock on the 2nd August and joined the reserve fleet at the Gareloch.

From July 1947 to June 1949 she was in reserve at Chatham, in July 1949 at Sheerness and in July 1950 at Rosyth prior to returning to Chatham on the 1st February 1951 where she became flagship of the Officer Commanding the Reserve Fleet.

In 1951 Ausonia commenced a major refit at Chatham, which was not completed until 28th May 1954. The refit included replacing her boilers and following the refit she was put in a state of preservation at the Millwall Yard of W. Badger & Co. Ltd. before returning to reserve on the Thames. She had been allocated the pennant number A153.

In June 1957 the decision was made for Ausonia to replace the heavy repair ship HMS Ranpura that was based at Malta and served with the Mediterranean fleet.

Ranpura was a former P&O liner completed in 1925 by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd. at Hebburn on the Tyne. She had a gross tonnage of 16,601 and was requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, serving in that capacity worldwide before being converted to a heavy repair ship at Portsmouth from December 1944 to June 1946, after which she joined the Mediterranean Fleet.

She was based at Malta and took part in Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French attack on Egypt in 1956.

In 1959 Ranpura was placed in reserve, until sold to Italian ship breakers for £200,000, arriving at La Spezia on 25th May 1961.

Ausonia was towed to Devonport for a further refit, following which she had a displacement of 20,760 tons and was armed with ten single 40mm anti aircraft guns. She was re-commissioned on the 16th September 1958, and arriving at Lazaretto Creek, Malta on the 16th October of the same year. By the end of November she was operating a full repair schedule, working 3,500 man-hours to complete an average of 500 jobs per month.

The complement of Ausonia was about 600 and believing that “All work and no play makes Jack a Dull Boy”, the ship had regular forays to sea. In March 1959 the vessel flew the flag of Flag Officer Malta, and with him onboard part of the time, visited Naples and Salerno, where the crew had the opportunity to visit the historic sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Vesuvius. In June of the same year she visited Corsica before joining Fleet Exercise “Sardex” when her complement was augmented by a detachment of Royal Marines. A further voyage to Genoa took place in September.

Annual summer voyages took place during the vessel’s time at Malta and Ausonia was regularly to be seen at Gibraltar.

In June 1962 she became Flagship Flag Officer-Mediterranean, the following year Captain Submarines and Minesweepers in the Mediterranean and in 1964 Captain Submarines of the Fifth Submarine Division. She provided not only repairs facilities for the boats, but also accommodation for the crews from the cramped and hot quarters of a submarine.

In mid February 1964, Ausonia was put on 12 hours notice to steam to Cyprus in case the evacuation of British nationals was needed due to fighting between Greek and Turkish factions, however this did not prove to be necessary.

In the summer of 1964, prior to her return to the UK, Ausonia provided the target for dummy practice torpedoes fired from the T Class submarines Turpin and Thermopylae. One of the torpedoes found its mark on the port side of the ship, Ausonia being one of the few vessels left in the Royal Navy with a hull strong enough to withstand the blows.

Following the exercise Ausonia was due to sail to Greece, but an engine room breakdown caused by a failure of a main bearing necessitated the ship having to be towed back to Malta.

Once repairs were complete Ausonia sailed from Malta on the 7th August arriving at Portsmouth on the 17th August 1964. Her withdrawal from service was due to the reduction of forces in Malta and the disbanding of the 5th Submarine Division. She went into reserve at Portsmouth, being laid up in Fareham Creek with numerous wartime built destroyers and frigates also awaiting their final trip be scrapped.

The official motto of the ship was Lab Sed Felicitas (The Happiness of Labour) however the unofficial motto was Si Frangitus Reparamus, which roughly translated means “If you bend it, we’ll mend it.”

During her time as a heavy repair ship both in times of peace and war, the ship supplied vast quantities of steam, electricity and stores, servicing and repairs to radar and radio sets, guns and control equipment, motors and generators, overhauling engines, repairing and rebuilding hundreds of ship’s boats, making awnings, splicing wires as well as providing improved accommodation for submariners.

In August 1965, a year after arrival at Portsmouth, Ausonia was sold to Spanish shipbreakers at Castellon for £300,000. Following which her end was quick, leaving Portsmouth on the 13th September 1965 en-route to Spain and the breakers yard.

Ascania of 13,900grt was built in 1925 by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. at High Walker. She served as an armed merchant cruiser and troopship in WWII, returned to Cunard service in 1947. She was scrapped at Newport in January 1957.

Alaunia of 14,030grt was built in 1925 by John Brown & Co. at Clydebank. She served as an armed merchant cruiser in WWII, retaining her name, and converted to a Royal Navy Repair ship in 1944. She was scrapped at Blyth in September 1957.