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{{Infobox Company 
| company_name = Cunard Line
| company_type = [[Subsidiary]] of [[Carnival Corporation & plc]]
| foundation = 1840, as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
| logo = Cunard logo in red Microgramma typeface.png
| location = [[Southampton]], [[United Kingdom]], and [[Santa Clarita, California]], [[United States]]
| area_served = Transatlantic, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Caribbean and World Cruises.
| industry = 
| products = 
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income = 
| num_employees = 
| parent = [[Carnival Corporation & PLC]]
| subsid = 
| homepage = [http://www.cunard.co.uk/ www.cunard.co.uk]
| footnotes =
}}
'''Cunard Line''' is a shipping company that was founded in 1840 and runs [[cruise ship]]s all over the world.
[[File:SamuelCunard.jpg|right|thumb|[[Sir Samuel Cunard]], founder of Cunard.]]
==History==
Cunard was formed in 1840 by [[Samuel Cunard]] after he decided to start a company that would carry [[mail]] from [[England]] to the [[United States]]. England paid for the costs of this service, since the country wanted a more regular service than the [[sailing ship]]s of the time could do.  Cunard started with four steam ships that made crossings of the [[Atlantic Ocean]] once a week.<ref name="qm2">{{cite book |title=Queen Mary 2: The Birth of a Legend |last=Plisson |first=Philip |year=2004 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-8109-5613-6}}</ref>  The company became known for its record of good safety–while ships of other companies often sank, killing many people, these sorts of things rarely happened to Cunard.<ref name="qm2"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel, and the Great Atlantic Steamships |last=Fox |first=Steven |year=2004 |publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780060955496 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRfXOrWGT0cC&q=transatlantic }}</ref>

By the early 1900s, though, Cunard was faced with many other ships from several countries also competing with it for passengers going across the Atlantic.  This caused the company to build three new ships, larger and faster than the ones before them.  They were named [[RMS Mauretania|RMS ''Mauretania'']], [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] and [[RMS Aquitania|RMS ''Aquitania'']].  Theses ships made Cunard back into a leading shipping line, even though ''Lusitania'' was sunk during [[World War I]] by a German [[submarine]], killing 1,200 people.<ref name="qm2"/>

In 1934, another big Cunard ship, the [[RMS Queen Mary|RMS ''Queen Mary'']], began service. She was the largest ship ever built at that time. During [[World War II]], ''Queen Mary'' and another new ship like her, [[RMS Queen Elizabeth|''Queen Elizabeth'']], carried many soldiers to support England and the US.<ref name="qm2"/>

By the 1960s, people preferred to cross the Atlantic by [[jet airplane]]s rather than by ships, so Cunard sold most of their ships, or made them cruise ships instead of [[ocean liner]]s.  Cunard still decided to build one new ocean liner, though, [[RMS Queen Elizabeth 2|RMS ''Queen Elizabeth 2'']]. She started service in 1969 and became a very popular ship because she made both cruises and crossings of the Atlantic.<ref name="qm2"/>

In 1998, [[Carnival Corporation]] bought Cunard.  Soon after, the company decided to build a new ocean liner that would make both cruises and Atlantic crossings like ''Queen Elizabeth 2'', but would be bigger.  This ship entered service in 2004 and is named [[RMS Queen Mary 2|RMS ''Queen Mary 2'']].<ref name="qm2"/>

==Fleet==
Cunard operates three ships as of 2010, and has operated many more in the past.  The three that are in service are RMS ''Queen Mary 2'', [[MS Queen Victoria|MS ''Queen Victoria'']], and [[MS Queen Elizabeth|MS ''Queen Elizabeth'']].<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Cunard Queens |last=Schwerdtner |first=Nils |year=2007 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-1-59114-105-1 }}</ref>

In 2017, Cunard announced a fourth ship would join its fleet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Carnival Corporation to Build New Cruise Ship for Iconic Cunard Brand {{!}} Carnival Corporation & plc |url=https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-build-new-cruise-ship-iconic-cunard-brand/ |access-date=2022-07-29 |website=www.carnivalcorp.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823024347/https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-build-new-cruise-ship-iconic-cunard-brand/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The new ship, named ''Queen Anne'', was originally going to enter the fleet in 2022, but will now join in 2024 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cunard Reveals Name of New Ship, Queen Anne |url=https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Cunard-Reveals-Name-of-New-Ship-Queen-Anne |access-date=2022-07-29 |website=www.travelmarketreport.com |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:British transport companies]]
[[Category:1840 establishments in the United Kingdom]]