Cunard Line
Ship Built In service for Cunard Type GRT Notes
Queen Mary 1936 1936-1967 Express 80,750 WWII troopship 1940-1945 ; Blue Riband , sold 1967 , now a stationary hotel ship
Mauretania 1939 1939-1965 Express 37,750 WWII troopship 1940-1945 ; scrapped by 1966
Queen Elizabeth 1940 1946-1968 Express 83,650 WWII troopship 1940-1945 , sold to The Queen Corporation in 1968 , renamed Elizabeth ; auctioned off to Tung Chao Yung in 1970 , refitted as a floating university , renamed Seawise University , destroyed by fire in 1972 ; partially scrapped 1974-1975
Media 1947 1947-1961 Passenger-cargo liner 13,350 Sold to Cogedar Line 1961 , refitted as an ocean liner , renamed Flavia ; sold to Virtue Shipping Company in 1969 , renamed Flavian ; sold to Panama , renamed Lavia in 1982 , caught fire and sank in 1989 in Hong Kong Harbour during refitting and was scrapped afterwards in Taiwan
Parthia 1947 1947-1961 Passenger-cargo liner 13,350 Sold to P & O 1961 , renamed Remuera ; transferred to P & O 's Eastern and Australian Steamship Company in 1964 , refitted as a cruise ship , renamed Aramac ; scrapped in Taiwan by 1970
Caronia 1949 1949-1968 Cruise ship 34,200 Sold to Star Shipping 1968 , renamed Columbia ; renamed Caribia in 1969 ; wrecked 1974 at Apra Harbor , Guam and broke up while being towed to Taiwan to be scrapped
Britannic 1929 1950-1960 Intermediate 26,943 Built for White Star Line , scrapped 1960
Georgic 1931 1950-1956 Intermediate 27,759 Built for White Star Line , scrapped 1956
Saxonia Carmania 1954 1954-1962 1962-1973 Canadian service Cruise ship 21,637 21,370 Refitted as cruise ship in 1962 , renamed Carmania ; sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company , Soviet Union 1973 , renamed Leonid Sobinov , scrapped 1999
Ivernia Franconia 1955 1955-1963 1963-1973 Canadian service Cruise ship 21,800 Refitted as cruise ship in 1963 , renamed Franconia ; sold to the Far Eastern Shipping Company , Soviet Union 1973 , renamed Fedor Shalypin ; transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company in 1980 ; transferred to the Odessa Cruise Company in 1992 ; scrapped 2004
Carinthia 1956 1956-1968 Canadian service 21,800 Sold to Sitmar Line 1968 , refitted as a full-time cruise ship , renamed Fairsea ; transferred to Princess Cruises , renamed Fair Princess in 1988 when Sitmar was sold to P & O ; transferred to P & O Cruises Australia in 1996 ; sold to China Sea Cruises in 2000 , renamed China Sea Discovery ; scrapped 2005 or 2006
Sylvania 1957 1957-1968 Canadian service 21,800 Sold to Sitmar Line 1968 , renamed Fairwind , renamed Sitmar Fairland in 1988 ; transferred to Princess Cruises , renamed Dawn Princess ; sold to V-Ships in 1993 , renamed Albatros ; sold to the Alang , India scrapyard , renamed Genoa and scrapped 2004
Alaunia 1960 1960-1969 Cargo liner 7,004 Sold to Brocklebank Line in 1969
Arabia 1955 1967-1969 Cargo liner 3,803 Ex- Castilian chartered from Ellerman Lines
Queen Elizabeth 2 1969 1969-2008 Express Cruise ship 70,300 Sold 2008 , longest serving Cunarder in history ; operating as a floating hotel in Dubai since April 2018
Atlantic Causeway 1969 1970-1986 Container ship 14,950 Scrapped in 1986
Atlantic Conveyor 1970 1970-1982 Container ship 14,946 Sunk in Falklands War 1982
Fleet -- 1934–1971
See also : White Star Line 's Olympic , Homeric , Majestic , Doric , Laurentic , Britannic and Georgic .
Cunard Line is a British cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda. In 1839, Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company together with Robert Napier, the famous Scottish steamship engine designer and builder, to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool-Halifax-Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganised as the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd, to raise capital. In 1902, White Star joined the American-owned International Mercantile Marine Co. In response, the British Government provided Cunard with substantial loans and a subsidy to build two superliners needed to retain Britain's competitive position. Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929. The sinking of her running mate Lusitania in 1915 was one of the causes of the United States' entering the First World War. In 1919, Cunard relocated its British homeport from Liverpool to Southampton, to better cater for travellers from London. In the late 1920s, Cunard faced new competition when the Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners.