RMS Mauretania (1906) launched by the Duchess of Roxburghe. At the time of her launch, she was the largest moving structure ever built, and slightly larger in gross tonnage than "Lusitania". The main visual differences between "Mauretania" and "Lusitania" were that "Mauretania" was five feet longer and had different vents. "Mauretania" also had two extra stages of turbine blades in her forward turbines, making her slightly faster than "Lusitania". "Mauretania" and "Lusitania" were the only ships with direct-drive steam turbines to hold the Blue Riband; in later ships, reduction-geared turbines were mainly used. "Mauretania"s usage of the steam turbine was the largest application
The World That Never Was as "intriguing, provocative and written with a novelist’s eye for detail ... an engrossing journey". In "The Guardian", anarchist writer Stuart Christie noted the relevance of the book's themes to contemporary tactics in policing and the Metropolitan Police Service's reluctance to make public files from the 1890s. Francis Wheen, writing in the "Financial Times", wrote that the book was "exhilarating" and questioned whether "the world that never was – one ignoring borders, and divisions of class and religion – [might] resemble the world as it might one day be"; while Peter Preston of "The Observer" described Butterworth's story as one