RMS Alcantara (1913)

RMS Alcantara was an ocean liner built by Harland and Wolff at its Govan yard in Glasgow for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, launched on 30 October 1913 and making her maiden voyage in June 1914 on the route from Southampton to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Like the last four ships of the company A-series she had triple screws, with a pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines driving the outer two and exhaust steam powering a Parsons low-pressure turbine on the middle one. She entered service only weeks before the start of the First World War and was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915. She was sunk in combat with the German armed merchant cruiser SMS Greif in the Action of 29 February 1916, in which the German ship was lost as well.