RMS Laconia 1917
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | RMS Laconia | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1917 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | ocean liner, armed merchant cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Cunard Line, Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War I | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Position | 52.0000, -13.6667 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, launched on 27 July 1911, with the wife of the U.S. Ambassador Mrs. Whitelaw Reid christening the vessel. Laconia was delivered to the Cunard Line on 12 December 1911, and began service on 20 January 1912. She was the first Cunard ship of that name. She was torpedoed and sunk on 25 February 1917 during World War I; 12 passengers were killed.
Laconia was intended for the Liverpool-Boston service with cruising from New York to the Mediterranean off season. The ship was the first British ship and first North Atlantic liner to be equipped with anti-roll tanks.
Diving & visiting
In March 2009, it was announced that the wreck of Laconia was located in November 2008 and claimed by Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., a commercial archaeology company in Tampa, Florida. She was found about 160 nautical miles (300 km) off of the coast of Ireland. "Britain claims it is the legitimate owner of the wrecks because, under a wartime insurance scheme, it paid the owners of the vessels when they sank, in effect making the remains the property of the taxpayer." The search for the wreck was featured on an episode of Discovery Channel's Treasure Quest titled "The Silver Queen". Items salvaged were 852 bars of silver and 132 boxes of silver coins worth an estimated £3m.
Location
- Recorded position: 52.0000, -13.6667 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article RMS Laconia (1911) (revision 1369666615), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Rediscovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Paxton 1917 · 45 km
- U-571 1944 · 93 km
- SS Storstad 1917 · 147 km
- HMS Mashona 1941 · 176 km
Other wrecks of the World War I
- SM UC-3 1916
- SMS Greif 1916
- SMS Kronprinz 1916
- SMS Pommern 1916
- SMS Wiesbaden 1916
- HMS Ariadne 1917
- HMS Attack 1917
- HMS G9 1917
- HMS Ghurka 1917
- HMS Laforey 1917
All 163 wrecks of the World War I →
Browse more: Open ocean wrecks · North Atlantic Ocean · First World War