(Cunard Line Scythia March 23, 1951)
The Scythia keel was laid down in 1919, just following the War, she was to
restore the Cunard Line's Liverpool and Queenstown to New York and Boston
service.
Scythia saw a full life under the Cunard flag. She survived the rest of her
class and remained in regular service well into the late 1950's. During World
War II, the ship served the Allied forces and later, as an immigrant ship during
the postwar period. Later in the ship's career, she was refitted for the St.
Lawrence Canadian trade. The ship was finally retired in 1958 and sent to the
breakers in Inverkeithing, Scotland, after 37 steady years of active service.
The Laconia, her sister ship was drafted into wartime service during World War
II. Converted to an armed merchant cruiser in September of 1939, she was to
become an unfortunate casualty of the War. During a voyage off of West Africa in
1942, she was torpedoed by Nazi U-boat patrols. Of 2,700 persons aboard, a mere
100 survived.
