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Lusitania photo by Norman Wilkinson  

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Sinking of the RMS Lusitania (1915)

RMS Lusitania was named after the Roman province in Western Europe corresponding to modern Portugal. It was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906. That held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1908.

It was briefly the world’s largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania three months later. She was sunk on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May 1915, by a German U-boat 11 miles (18 km) off . The southern coast of Ireland resulted to killing 1,198 passengers and crew.

Here are the Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Sinking of the RMS Lusitania (1915)

1. The RMS Lusitania was considered as the world largest passenger ship

Lusitania photo by Norman Wilkinson

At the time of its completion in 1906, the Lusitania was the largest passenger ship on Earth at 240 meters long.

The Lusitania mostly carried passengers across the Atlantic Ocean between Britain and the United States . When World War I began in 1914, it fatefully began to carry ammunition as well.

2.The ship was built by Scottish Firm by John Brown and company

RMS Lusitania was designed by Cunard Line’s senior naval architect Leonard Peskett. He also designed RMS Mauretania. The ship’s interiors were designed by Scottish architect James Miller.

It was built by Scottish shipbuilding firm John Brown & Company, which is renowned for building many other world famous ships too. The ship was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania. That included nearly all of modern Portugal south of the Douro River and part of modern Spain.

3. It was repainted in Camouflage

When there was an outbreak of war in 1914, the Lusitania was repainted with a grey color scheme . This was the attempt to make her more difficult to be detected by German U-boats.

Despite the threat from submarines, the ship continued to carry thousands of passengers back and forth across the Atlantic while demand remained high.

Before the Lusitania was torpedoed, submarine attacks had been relatively rare and so the ship’s camouflage was dropped and she was repainted to civilian colours.

4. The Lusitania was a commercial passenger ship

Lusitania arriving at New York on her maiden voyage. photo by Maritime Quest

The beginning of the twentieth century there was fierce competition, between Britain’s Cunard Line and German shipping companies, Nord deutscher Lloyd (NDL) and Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) for the transatlantic trade.

With the German companies dominating the Atlantic with more luxurious and faster ships. Cunard approached the British government for assistance and was given a loan of £2.6 million to finance two ships on the condition that they would be designed such that they could be converted into Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMCs).

This led to the creation of RMS Lusitania and her running mate RMS Mauretania.

5. The ship was sunk by the Germans U-20

the sinking of ship by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, contributed indirectly to the entry of the United States into World War I.

It was then commanded by Walther Schwieger. In the days prior to May 7, U-20 had sunk three British vessels and attacked several others all in the waters south of Ireland, through which Lusitania was about to sail.

This led to Captain Turner being given warning messages twice on the evening of May 6. At 13:20 on May 7, 1915, Lusitania was spotted by the U-20. At 14:10, on the order of Schwieger, one torpedo was fired at RMS Lusitania striking it on the starboard bow, just beneath the wheelhouse.

The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship’s boilers. Lusitania was traveling at 18 knots and at the time no ship traveling at more than 15 knots had ever been hit by a torpedo.

6. The Germans had made a warning before Lusitania crossing

In 1915, a week before the Lusitania’s departure, the German Embassy posted warnings in 50 American newspapers. Reminding the public that the waters around Great Britain were including in the war zone between Britain and Germany. That ships in those waters could be attacked and/or sunk by U-boats.

But it seemedthat many people didn’t really believe that the Germans would attack a luxury cruise ship. With 1,959 people on board, especially with 159 neutral Americans passengers on board.

7. RMS Lusitania sank in 18 minutes only

Lusitania sinking photo by Bundesarchiv

In 1915 the Lusitania was approaching the coast of Cork. The voyage was almost over, but it had reached its most dangerous point due to German submarines.

It was quickly spotted by the German U-boat U-20 which landed a direct hit on the side of the ship, causing a huge explosion.

Due to several factors, it began sinking the launching of lifeboats became difficult. It carried 48 lifeboats but only six were launched successfully. It took only 18 minutes for RMS Lusitania to sink. 1195 of the 1959 people on board perished making it a catastrophic disaster.

8.There were 1193 fatalities

RMS Lusitania survivor with injured hand, May 25, 1915 photo by National Museum of the U.S. Navy

The Lusitania was a passenger ship around 1900 had boarded her in New York. Unlike other major maritime disasters, like the sinking of the Titanic. The survivors were simply those who were able to get off the boat quick enough: mainly those who had been on deck at the time of the torpedoing.

The ship sunk in an extremely speedy 18 minutes, so those who were below deck had little time to reach deck. Because of this speed, very few lifeboats were launched either: there simply wasn’t the time. Notably, the art collector Hugh Lane and businessman Albert Vanderbilt died in the sinking.

Despite sinking a mere 11.5 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, it still took a couple of hours for help to reach the survivors. The water temperature was around 11°C, and many drowned or died from hypothermia. Only 289 bodies were recovered.

9. It was considered one of the fastest ships of her days

The RMS Lusitania entered service in 1907, one of Cunard’s two major new ocean liners, built with government subsidies to rival the new and improved German navy. The subsidies had been given on the proviso that the Lusitania, and her sister ship the Mauretania, could be requisitioned for use by the Admiralty should the need arise.

The ship could reach a speed of up to 26 knots, and had a capacity of just over 30,000 gross tons – 10,000 more than her nearest German rival.

10.The Lusitania was often compared to the Titanic

RMS Lusitania docks in New York, September 13, 1907 photo by National Museum of the U.S. Navy

The two ships were both four funnel steamers and close to the same size and design and they both tragically sunk, killing most people on board.

The Lusitania went down, three years after the sinking of the Titanic. The similarities were hard to overlook. Both British ocean liners had been the largest ships in the world when first launched (the Lusitania at 787 feet in 1906, and the Titanic at 883 feet in 1911).

And both were ostentatiously luxurious, designed to ferry the world’s wealthiest passengers between Europe and the United States in comfort and elegance.