 Originally built as a passenger liner for Cunard Line's service between Liverpool and New York in 1893, was the holder of the Blue Riband award for speed early in her career.In October 1914, she was sold to the shipbreakers Thos W Ward as she was wearing out.The Royal Navy purchased "Campania" from the shipbreakers on 27 November 1914 for £32,500, initially for conversion to an armed merchant cruiser equipped with eight quick-firing guns.