RMS Lusitania. RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, holder of the Blue Riband and briefly the world's biggest ship. She was launched by the Cunard Line in 1907, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. In 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew. When she left New York for Liverpool on what would be her final voyage on 1 May 1915, submarine warfare was intensifying in the Atlantic. Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom to be a war-zone, and the German embassy in the United States had placed a newspaper advertisement warning people not to sail on Lusitania. On the afternoon of 7 May, Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-Boat, 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared "zone of war".
Development and construction[edit] Lusitania, before her launch. The American millionaire businessman J. Design[edit] Lusitania unloading Christmas mail to a post office boat. Interiors[edit] RMS. LUSITANIA. The British Government and Cunard began talks about building two large liners in 1902. By 1903, they had reached an agreement the government would loan Cunard £2,600,000 to build the two ships.
Part of the agreement was both liners would be capable of 24 - 25 knots, fast enough to win back the Blue Riband for Britain, and, had to be larger than the 24,581-ton Kaiserin Auguste Victoria that entered service for he Hamburg Amerika Line in May 1906. Their design also had to allow them to be easily converted to armed merchant cruisers in times of war. Lusitania’s seven passenger decks were designed to carry 563 1st, 464 2nd and 1,138 3rd class passengers.
Lusitania took the Blue Riband from the Hamburg Amerika Line’s Deutschland on her second westbound voyage from Liverpool - New York by crossing between Queenstown and Sandy Hook (east coast of America) in 4 days, 19 hours and 52 minutes, increasing the average speed from 23.15 to 23.99 knots. RMS Lusitania - LostLiners.com. Lusitania Home. Lusitania Home Ship Statistics: Related Pages: Did you enjoy this account of passengers who were aboard the during her fateful voyage? If so, then you will certainly want to read the two part series, "Lest We Forget," written by Jim Kalafus and Mike Poirier. Follow these hyperlinks to the two articles: Lest We Forget - Part 1 Lest We Forget - Part 2 Lusitania FAQ: Q: Wasn't the length of the 785 feet? The Mauretania shared the same length b.p., and the same 2.2 feet of length from the forward perpendicular to the tip of the stem; her overall length, however, was 790 feet, with the extra length being carried aft of her after perpendicular.
Over and over again, in newspapers and technical journals, the figure 787 feet was applied to the overall length of the Lusitania, or -- before the Mauretania's final dimensions were determined -- were applied to both vessels. So where did the 785' figure come from? Q: What was the actual date that the was launched?
Q: Were the and the really sister ships? Lusitania Online Home. The Lusitania. The Lusitania sailed on May 1st 1915 from New York bound for Liverpool. The sinking of the Lusitania was thought to have made a major impact on America and World War One, but America did not join the war for another two years. As the Lusitania had sailed from New York, she had on board American civilians and in 1915 America was neutral in World War One. As she left New York, the dock was crowded with news reporters as New York newspapers had carried an advert in them paid for by the German Embassy that any ship that sailed into the "European War Zone" was a potential target for German submarines.
Some newspapers printed the warning directly next to Cunard's list of departure dates. Regardless of this, the Cunard liner was packed with passengers. As the 32,000 ton luxury liner left New York, the passengers turned their attention to what the liner had to offer them as fee paying customers. One female passenger said: May 6th brought better targets for U20. MLA Citation/Reference. RMS Lusitania » The Lusitania Resource. RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Company that served the Liverpool, England – New York City, United States route on the North Atlantic. The ship was designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland.
The ship was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which is now part of present-day Portugal and western Spain. Lusitania was launched on 7 June 1906 and entered service for Cunard on 26 August 1907. When she entered service, Lusitania set the records for the largest and fastest ship afloat, taking these records from the ships of the United Kingdom’s naval rival, Germany. Lusitania maintained these records until the entry of her twin sister Mauretania into the North Atlantic run. Lusitania, Mauretania, and slower but larger Aquitania provided a weekly passenger service for the Cunard Line just prior to the First World War.
During World War I, Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom. Hoehling, A. World History Blog: The Fast Lusitania. The August 1907 Scientific American had this news item: “On a preliminary speed trial for the new turbine liner Lusitania of the Cunard Line, the great ship easily reached a speed of 25 knots, and this in spite of the fact that her bottom was ‘heavily coated with the chemically-saturated mud of the River Clyde.’ The constructive features of the ship are novel, and because of her mammoth proportions are of unusual interest. " Of course, this is the same Lusitania that met a tragic end as a casualty of the first World War when she was torpedoed by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. The ship sank in just 18 minutes killing 1,198 people. It was kind of eerie reading this account from 1907 of the speed of the ship knowing what eventually happens to it. RMS Lusitania. Statistics These statistics are derived from NRP Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway, 5 vols, David & Charles, 1975-80.
Cunard is covered in volume 1. Gross Tonnage - 31,550 tons Dimensions - 232.31 x 26.75m (762.2 x 87.8ft) Number of funnels - 4 Number of masts - 2 Construction - Steel Propulsion - Quadruple screw Engines - Four direct-acting steam turbines, of the Parsons type. Service speed - 25 knots Builder - John Brown & Co Ltd., Glasgow Launch date - 7 June 1906 Passenger accommodation - 563 1st class, 464 2nd class, 1,138 3rd class Details of Career As the booklist below reveals there has been a large amount of material published regarding the Lusitania and its sinking.
The following is a brief summary of the ship's history, largely taken from Neil McCart's book Atlantic Liners of the Cunard Line from 1884 to the Present Day - PSL, 1993. In 1897 the Nordeutscher Lloyd ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse took the Blue Riband from Cunard's Campania and Lucania. Adapted from the Cunard Archives. RMS LUSITANIA. The race was on to gain dominance of the Atlantic crossing.
The Late 1890s saw four new ships from Germany that threatened to put an end to the British dominance of the Atlantic. The ships produced by Germany were fast and luxurious. Britain tried to retaliate by planning the commission of two ships in 1902. The ships would have to be the largest, fastest and most luxurious than ever built before. The Cunard Line decided (after serious negotiations) to let John Brown & Co. of Clydebank, Scotland build the Lusitania and Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson on the River Tyne to build the Mauretania. Before construction could begin there was a small problem of finance. £2,600,000 would be needed to build the ships.
Negotiations started between the Cunard Line and the British Government. In fact in the Spring of 1909 her three bladed propellers were replaced with four bladed ones to give her extra speed. Leonard Paskett produced the early designs for the two ships. Her second voyage was quicker. Online - Lost Liners - Lusitania. The Lusitania carried a healthy complement of American passengers when she departed New York for Liverpool on May 1, 1915, despite a published warning from the German authorities that appeared in U.S. newspapers the morning of her departure.
By this time a number of British merchant ships had been sunk by German subs, but the famous liner's speed still seemed the best guarantee of safety. Certainly her captain and crew should have been on high alert. As the Lusitania neared the end of her crossing, a German U-boat sank three British ships in the waters south of Ireland through which she was about to sail, and he received repeated warnings that U-boats were active on his intended course. Yet on May 7, as the Lusitania entered the most dangerous part of her passage, Captain William Turner actually slowed down, apparently worried by patchy fog. In fact, Turner was ignoring or at least bending every one of the Admiralty's directives for evading German submarines. Europe, India, and Asia - Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints. British Naval Intelligence and German Naval Warfare 1914-1918.
Sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Lusitania had the misfortune to fall victim to torpedo attack relatively early in the First World War, before tactics for evading submarines were properly implemented or understood. The contemporary investigations both in the UK and the United States into the precise causes of the ship's loss were obstructed by the needs of wartime secrecy and a propaganda campaign to ensure all blame fell upon Germany. Argument over whether the ship was a legitimate military target raged back and forth throughout the war as both sides made misleading claims about the ship. At the time she was sunk, she was carrying a large quantity of rifle cartridges and non-explosive shell casings, as well as civilian passengers.
Several attempts have been made over the years since the sinking to dive to the wreck seeking information about precisely how the ship sank, and argument continues to the current day. Background[edit] Lusitania in 1907 Germany's declared exclusion zone of February 1915. 1915[edit] Notice! Sinking of the Lusitania. British 'not to blame' for rapid sinking and loss of life on liner RMS Lusitania, find underwater researchers.
The Sinking of the Lusitania, 1915. The Sinking of the Lusitania The Lusitania made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in September 1907. Construction had begun in 1903 with the goal of building the fastest liner afloat. Her engines produced 68,000-horse power and pushed the giant through the water at an average speed over 25 knots. Dubbed the "Greyhound of the Seas" she soon captured the Blue Ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing. The British Admiralty had secretly subsidized her construction and she was built to Admiralty specifications with the understanding that at the outbreak of war the ship would be consigned to government service. On May 1, 1915, the ship departed New York City bound for Liverpool.
On May 7, the ship neared the coast of Ireland. Walter Schwieger was captain of the U-Boat that sank the Lusitania. The sinking enraged American public opinion. References: Simpson, Colin, The Lusitania (1972); Hickey, Des & Smith, Gus, Seven Days to Disaster (1982). Feature Articles - RMS Lusitania: The Fateful Voyage. On April 30th 1915, the Lusitania was at New York, being loaded with meat, medical supplies, copper, cheese, oil and machinery, but she was also secretly being loaded with munitions for Britain for the war.
That same day, Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger was ordered to take his U-boat-20 German submarine to the northern tip of Great Britain, then back down south on the Atlantic side and then east to the Irish Channel to destroy ships going to and from Liverpool, England. Then he was to go around Ireland and head back to Germany. Schwieger was known to frequently attack ships without warning them, and fired at any neutral ships he suspected may be British. In an earlier voyage, he narrowly missed hitting a hospital ship with a torpedo. Beside the CUNARD advertisement was a notice: This notice was thought by most of the passengers as an idle threat.
The first days of the voyage were uneventful, but not for the U-20. On May 7th, the Lusitania entered the Irish Channel. A Deadly Encounter. LUSITANIA OCEAN LINER 1906-1915. De Maisonneuve Bernard 31/01/2009 Le RMS Lusitania , est coulé le 7 mai 1915 à 14h10 près du Fastnet, à environ à 12 milles marins de la côte, au large de la pointe sud de l´Irlande (Old Head of Kinsdale), par un sous- marin allemand, le U-20 .
Le Lusitania était commandé par le capitaine William "Bowler Bill" Turner , âgé de 58 ans, officier expérimenté qui effectuait là son 102e voyage. Parti de New-York le 1er mai 1915 à destinat ion de Liverpool, après une escale d´une semaine (il était arrivé à New-York le 24 avril 1915). Il aurait du être protégé par un croiseur britannique, le Juno, qui semble avoir été retiré de cette zone 2 jours plus tôt, le 5 mai 1915, par l´amiral Fisher et Winston Churchill lui-même, alors Premier lord de l´Amirauté. Le Lusitania a été touché par tribord alors qu´il naviguait à vitesse relativeme nt réduite vers le port de Queenstown (actuel Cobh), à 40 km de là sur la côte sud de l´Irlande.
RMS Lusitania - Expedition 2012. British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the Lusitania Sinking. The Lusitania Resource: Lusitania Passengers & Crew, Facts & History. RMS Lusitania. On May 7, 2015 it will be 100 years ago the Lusitania disaster took place. This project aims to identify and list the survivors and casualties of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania . The Lusitania project will become an ongoing project with the aim to build all passenger family-trees Overview The sinking of the RMS Lusitania , of the Cunard Line After being torpedoed off the Irish coast by a German submarine in 7 May 1915 while en route to Liverpool from New York City, the Lusitania started to list dramaticaly on one side, and went down in just over a quarter of an hour.
Only a handful of her passengers and crew were saved by nearby fishermen who actually saw the ship sink. On 7 May Lusitania was nearing the end of her crossing, as she was scheduled to dock at the Prince's Landing Stage in Liverpool later that afternoon. She was running parallel to the south coast of Ireland, and was roughly 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale when the liner crossed in front of U-20 at 2:10 p.m. Band. Lest We Forget : Part 1 by Jim Kalafus & Michael Poirier - Gare Maritime. When one hears the phrase, “poor little rich girl”, it normally conjures images of Shirley Temple or Gloria Vanderbilt, but no one is more deserving of the title than Virginia Loney.
She was born, on May 19, 1899, to a life of privilege. Her parents were Allen Donnellan Loney, a one time member of the New York Stock Exchange, and Catharine Wolfe Brown. Mr. Loney had sold his seat on the stock exchange shortly after the birth of his only child. Their home in England, Guilsborough House, had a stable with twenty hunters and Allen Loney was considered one of the best riders in the area and described as an “excellent whip.” Virginia and her parents returned to New York aboard the Celtic in September 1914, after summering in The Untied Kingdom.
Her husband did not want his family traveling alone, and sailed back on the Adriatic to escort them. Virginia spent most of her time during the voyage with her maid Elise Bouteiller. A History of the World - Object : Propeller from RMS Lusitania.