 A new policy to this end was put into effect by Cunard's new chairman, John Burns, and announced in the London "Times".Launched on 1 March 1881, "Servia" was the first of Cunard's new breed of ocean liners.She was the second largest ship in the world at 515 feet long and 52.1 feet wide, surpassed only by Brunel's "SS Great Eastern".