“Campania” as Seaplane Ship
It is impossible to give a detailed account of the whole of the work of this nature carried out by the Cunard Company, but a general idea can be obtained from the following list of some of the most important contracts carried out at Liverpool.
| 60 | Loading trays for 6 in. shells. These are the trays which guide the shell into the breech of the gun. | ||
| 1,200 | Dial sight adaptors—to render sights adaptable for guns of different calibres. | ||
| 12,000 | Copper and leather washers for recuperating gear; and | } } | This recuperating gear is the mechanism used to bring the gun into firing position again after recoil. |
| 12,000 | Manganese Bronze Rings for supporting packing leathers in recuperating gear attached to 6 in. Howitzers. | ||
| 5,340 | Actuating Nuts and Screws for Brake gear for 13 and 18 pounder Field Guns. | ||
| 250 | Sets of Cables for electing firing gear. This is the gear attached to 6 in. and 92 in. guns, to enable them to be fired by electricity. | ||
| 24 | Battery Boxes in connection with above. | ||
| 500 | Sets Rings and Discs protecting obturator. This is a contrivance in the breech of a gun to prevent the escape of the gases generated in firing. | ||
| 35 | Steel Crankshafts for the Motor Boats which were used for chasing submarines. | ||
| 36 | Magazine Barrows for transporting heavy shells from Magazine to Guns on board H.M. Ships. | ||
| 160 | Breech Rings for 18 pounder guns. | ||
| 100 | Clamp Bearings. | ||
| 14,912 | Shell Nose adaptors for correcting the thread in end of shell. | ||
| 20,300 | Dummy Shells for 18 pounder Guns. These were used in training new troops to handle guns and shells. To complete this contract in 1915 the Cunard Company bought all the mangle rollers that could be obtained and converted them into dummy shells. | ||
The Company’s Laundry, which before the war dealt with all the Linen, etc., from the Company’s steamers, was able during the last few years to assist many of the Military Hospitals and other institutions in the district by undertaking their Laundry work; at the same time, of course, they did whatever work was required for the Company’s ships and those under their management, whether acting as troop ships or hospital ships.
A hospital ward in the Lounge of the “Mauretania”
Nor did these activities exhaust the long list of the Cunard Company’s manifold contributions to the Nation’s improvised war industries. In 1916, realising the urgent need for aeroplanes, the Company’s Directors made certain suggestions to the Government, and placed their services at the Government’s disposal in this connexion. After some months consideration a definite scheme was formulated in July, 1917, providing for the erection of a factory at the Government’s expense, to be under the supervision of the Cunard Company, who would act as Managers under the Direction of the Ministry of Munitions. A site was selected near the race course at Aintree, the first sod was removed on the 4th October, 1917, and within less than nine months the factory was completed, many of the shops having been working at full pressure very much earlier than this. Although the Cunard Company had had no experience of aircraft work, and could not, of course, spare sufficient staff to man the factory, the arrangement of the various shops, and the selection of the machinery to be installed rested in their hands, and a certain number of the Company’s own officials were subsequently employed there.
Even under normal conditions, the construction and fitting out of this the largest aeroplane factory in the country would have been a herculean task, but in war time, with the resultant difficulties to be encountered in obtaining the necessary material, the undertaking might well have baffled even the most enterprising brains. That it was accomplished at all is, perhaps, the best proof of the enormous reserve of initiative and capability that had been accumulated by the Company during the long years of its previous expansion; and some idea of what was achieved can perhaps be more easily obtained when it is remembered that the largest shop measured not less than 700 by 500 feet, and that there were several other shops each of which were about half this size; that for the necessary electrical power a cable had to be laid for a distance of six miles from the Lister Drive generating station; that, the local water and gas supply being totally inadequate, a supply well had to be sunk to a depth of 370 feet, thus providing the factory’s own water supply; that a special gas main had to be laid for a considerable distance; that a new siding from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway had to be constructed, the line running right into the factory’s grounds; that the machinery and equipment had to be assembled not only from every part of the United Kingdom, but from the United States of America; that several of the most essential machines, which had been specially made, were lost in transit owing to the action of enemy submarines, so that new machines had to be made in their place; and that a canteen had to be provided, fully equipped with the latest cooking utensils and labour saving devices, which would accommodate at two sittings no less than 5,000 people.
