RMS Scythia
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RMS Scythia was a Cunard liner. It sailed on its maiden voyage in 1921, and became a troop and supply ship during the second World War.
History
Following heavy losses during the first World War, the Cunard Line embarked on an ambitious building programme. They decided to build "intermediate", 19,000-tonne ships, rather than the massive liners they had previously employed. The Scythia was the first ship in this new fleet, and construction began in 1919. The Scythia was built for the services between Liverpool and Queenstown in Britain to New York and Boston, in the United States. A luxury liner designed to appeal to American tourists, in the mid-1920s, it began sailing from New York to the Mediterranean.
The Scythia was requistioned at the end of 1939, and first used as a troop ship on 1st November 1940, when it sailed from Liverpool to the Middle East carrying the 1st Kings Dragoon Guards. It then saw service carrying evacuees from Liverpool to New York. In 1942, the Scythia took part in the British Army landings in North Africa. On 23rd November it was struck by an aerial torpedo. The crew managed to get to harbour at Algiers, and the ship suffered only five casualties out of a compliment of 4,300 men. The Scythia was salvaged and taken to New York for repair in January 1943, and afterward ferried American troops to Europe. At the end of the war, it took many American troops back from Europe, many of them accompanied by their young brides, before sailing to India to bring home British troops from the war in the East. One of its last missions as a troop ship was to bring the 1st King's Dragoon Guards home to Liverpool, on 11th March 1948.
Later in 1948, the Scythia was handed to the International Refugee Organisation to take refugees from Europe to Canada. In 1950 it became a passenger ship again, sailing from Britain to Canada and later to New York. Its final route was around the North Sea. The Scythia was scrapped in 1958.