RMS Empress of Russia was a steam turbine ocean liner built in 1912–13 by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific steamships (CP). She regularly worked the trans-Pacific route between Canada and the Far East. History Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company built the ship at Govan near Glasgow in Scotland. Empress of Russia was launched on 28 August 1912 and completed in March 1913. She left Liverpool on 1 April 1913 on her maiden voyage via Suez to Hong Kong and Vancouver. Thereafter, she regularly sailed back and forth along the Hong Kong – Shanghai – Nagasaki – Kobe – Yokohama – Vancouver route. In 1913 she broke the record for the fastest trans-Pacific crossing which was formerly held by ; but her sister ship, broke that record in May 1914, crossing the Pacific in nine days, two hours, and fifteen minutes. The popularity of the short route from Vancouver to the Orient was so great that these two additional CP Empress'ocean liners were necessary. The vessel had a length of , and her beam was . She had three funnels and two masts. Her four steam turbines drove four screws, giving her a cruising speed of . The ocean liner provided accommodation for 284 first-class passengers and for 100 second class passengers. There was also room for up to 800 steerage-class passengers. This was the first liner to have a straight stern like a warship; and the advantages of this type of stern were revealed in terms of speed, vibration, steering and seagoing qualities. Empress of Russias UK official number was 135197 and until 1933 her code letters were JBSQ. In 1934 her code letters were superseded by the call sign VGKW. World War I Empress of Russia was requisitioned by the British Admiralty twice during the First World War. Initially, the ship was refitted as an armed merchant cruiser at Hong Kong; she was attached to a squadron blockading German merchant shipping in Philippine waters and retained her Chinese crew, but took on French sailors to man her guns. Later, she was transferred to the Indian Ocean. In November 1914, the highlight of this Indian Ocean tour of duty followed from a rendezvous at sea with the Australian cruiser . In what was called the Battle of Cocos, Sydney had engaged the German cruiser , forcing the raider to beach