On 15 September 1914 Calgarian was taken over as an armed merchant cruiser.
Due to their design, this type of ship was criticized as being not much better than an armed merchant cruiser.
California was a liner that had spent the first years of the war as an armed merchant cruiser before being converted to a troopship.
She was used as an Allied merchant cruiser from 1939 to 1942.
At first "Aquitania" was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, for which provision had been made in her design.
As an armed merchant cruiser, her gross registered tonnage was 16,738.
Then they pulled me for a merchant cruiser.
In 1939, she was taken up for war service, and converted to an armed merchant cruiser.
She was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, and refitted with a single funnel.
They had some use in countering armed merchant cruisers of a hostile navy.