SS Servia
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Servia |
| Owner: | Cunard Line |
| Operator: | Cunard Line |
| Port of registry: |
 United Kingdom, Liverpool |
| Route: | Liverpool – New York |
| Builder: | J & G Thomson |
| Cost: | £256,903 |
| Yard number: | 179 |
| Launched: | 1 March 1881 |
| Maiden voyage: | November 26, 1881 |
| Homeport: | Liverpool |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1902 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 7,392 GT |
| Length: | 515 ft (157 m) |
| Beam: | 52.1 ft (15.9 m) |
| Draft: | 40.75 ft (12.42 m) |
| Decks: | 5 |
| Installed power: | 10,300 ihp |
| Propulsion: | Single Screw |
| Sail plan: | Barque-rigged |
| Speed: | 16.7 kn (best average) |
| Capacity: | 480 1st class, 750 steerage |
| Crew: | 298 |
SS Servia, also known as RMS Servia, was a successful transatlantic passenger and mail steamer of revolutionary design, built by J & G Thomson of Clydebank (later John Brown & Company) and launched in 1881. She was the first large ocean liner to be built of steel instead of iron, and the first Cunard ship to have an electric lighting installation. For these and other reasons, maritime historians often consider Servia to be the first "modern" ocean liner.
In 1878, Samuel Cunard's British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was reorganised into limited company and officially named Cunard. This capitalisation allowed it to use shareholder money to build larger, more expensive ships. 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. With her design and construction guided by admirality specifications, Servia had many features that satisfied the requirements for her to be placed high on the admiralty's reserve list of the armed auxiliary cruisers, where she could be called into service in times of war. It was named after historical English name for country Serbia.
Servia’s engine was similar to the one installed on the Guion Line’s crack passenger liner SS Alaska of 1881. It was a triple-crank compound steam engine with one 72 in high-pressure cylinder, and two 100 in low-pressure cylinders, and a stroke of 6.5 ft (2.0 m). The steam was supplied at 90 lbf by seven Scotch boilers, each of which were 18 ft (5.5 m) in diameter and contained six furnaces. Six of these boilers were double-ended, while the seventh was single-ended and contained three furnaces. The power developed was 10,300 ihp, driving a single four-bladed screw. Servia's maximum recorded speed during her trials was 17.85 knots, and her average speed during a crossing was around 16 knots. Although Servia did not achieve any speed records, she was a competitive liner that performed well, and in 1884 she managed to make a crossing in less than seven days, averaging at 16.7 knots.
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