RMS Saxonia (1899)

The first RMS Saxonia was a passenger ship of the British Cunard Line. Between 1900 and 1925, Saxonia operated on North Atlantic and Mediterranean passenger routes, and she saw military service during World War I (1914–1918). Saxonias sister ship was Ivernia. Around 1900, the Cunard Line faced tight competition from the British White Star Line and the German lines Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg America (HAPAG). Cunards largest liners, as of 1898 and , had a reputation for size and speed, both being of 12,950 gross register tons (grt) and having held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. However, Norddeutscher Lloyds new liner had taken the Blue Riband from them in 1897, while White Star was planning to place a new 17,000-grt liner, RMS Oceanic into service. In response, Cunard updated its fleet, ordering new liners including the sister ships and RMS Saxonia (both launched in late 1899) and (launched in mid-1902). Rather than attempting to fully regain prestige by spending the additional money necessary to order liners that were fast enough to win back the Blue Riband from Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse or large enough to rival Oceanic in size, Cunard tried to maximize their profitability in order to remain solvent enough to fend off any takeover attempts. The three new ships were not especially fast, but all were larger than Campania and Lucania; in fact, Saxonia at was the largest Cunard liner up to that time – beating out Ivernia, which entered service a month before Saxonia, for that distinction – and the largest until Cunard placed RMS Caronia in service in 1905. Thus, although the decision to order and launch Saxonia in 1898–1899 was taken well before J. P. Morgan’s efforts of 1900–1902, to put together the large combination of shipping lines that was officially designated IMM in October 1902, Saxonia, her sister Ivernia, and her "half-sister" Carpathia became both instruments and models through which Cunard was able to successfully compete with its larger rivals – most notably IMM’s lead company, White Star.