Very shorly after the South Eastern & Chatham Railway's pioneer turbine cross-channel steamer The Queen had entered service, the joint owners of the Newhaven/Dieppe service took delivery of their first turbine steamer, Brighton IV. Built by Denny Brothers at Dumbarton in 1903, she was registered at 1,129 tons gross and measured 273½ feet in length with a 34¼ foot beam. Powered by three Direct Drive turbines producing 580r.h.p., she could make 21¾ knots at full steam and rapidly acquired the reputation of beating her own tight schedules in good weather conditions. This turn of speed naturally attracted her to the Admiralty's attention when the Great War broke out in 1914 and she was soon requisitioned as first a troopship - to rush men to France - and then as a hospital ship. Serving in the latter capacity from March 1915 until finally released in May 1920, she returned to her civilian duties for a further ten years before being sold in 1930. Purchased by Lord Moyne who converted her into an oil-fired ocean-going private yacht, she was renamed Roussalka and cruised the Pacific for two years before being fitted with new diesel engines. With her appearance altered by the removal of one funnel, she went back to sea only to be wrecked off the Galway coast in August 1933, fortunately without loss of life.