April 22, 1921
The ocean liner RMS Arundel Castle, under the command of Captain T.J. Bremner, departed the city of Southampton in southern England for her maiden voyage. This vessel, which had been built for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company Limited (Union Castle Line), made her way to Cape Town, South Africa, on that inaugural trip.
Arundel Castle was originally set to be ready for service by 1916, but World War I – along with the shortage of materials during the first couple of years after the end of that global conflict –led to an extended postponement in completing construction of the ship. One result of this huge lag time between the ship’s blueprint stage and her debut was that she seemed in several respects to be a throwback to another era of ocean liners. Arundel Castle, among other things, became the first new ship since 1914 to take to the seas sporting a total of four funnels. Arundel Castle, however, also offered a few prominent state-of-the-art amenities. She was among the first ocean liners fitted with both a swimming pool and air-conditioning, for example.
After her maiden voyage, Arundel Castle continued to provide passenger and mail services between Southampton and Cape Town for the Union Castle Line as one of the largest and fastest ships on that route throughout much of the 1920s and 1930s. By the time World War II erupted, Arundel Castle had been requisitioned as a British military troopship. She saw service during the war on various worldwide convoy routes.
A few years after the war, Arundel Castle resumed her service for the Union Castle Line between Southampton and Cape Town. By the time she was withdrawn from service in 1958 and sold to a company in Hong Kong for scrap, Arundel Castle had sailed 3,020,183.4 nautical miles (5,593,379.7 kilometers) altogether in times of both peace and war.
For more information on RMS Arundel Castle, please check out RMS Arundel Castle – Wikipedia
Transportation History 
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