RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania arriving in New York City in 1907 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | RMS Lusitania |
| Namesake | Lusitania |
| Owner | Cunard Line |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Route | Liverpool – Queenstown – New York |
| Builder | John Brown & Co, Clydebank |
| Yard number | 367 |
| Laid down | 17 August 1904 |
| Launched | 7 June 1906 |
| Christened | Mary, Lady Inverclyde |
| Acquired | 26 August 1907 |
| Maiden voyage | 7 September 1907 |
| In service | 1907 – 1915 |
| Out of service | 7 May 1915 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Torpedoed and sunk on 7 May 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 31,550 GRT, 12,611 NRT |
| Displacement | 44,060 long tons (44,767.0 t) |
| Length | |
| Beam | 87.8 ft (26.8 m) |
| Height | 65 ft (19.8 m) to boat deck, 165 ft (50.3 m) to aerials, 104 ft (31.7 m) from keel to top of boat deck, 144 ft (43.9 m) from keel to top of funnels |
| Draught | 33.6 ft (10.2 m) |
| Depth | 56.6 ft (17.3 m) |
| Decks | 6 passenger decks, 10 overall |
| Installed power | 25 fire-tube boilers; four direct-acting Parsons steam turbines producing 76,000 hp (57 MW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Capacity | 552 first class, 460 second class, 1,186 third class; 2,198 total. |
| Crew | 850 |
| Notes | First British four-funnelled ocean liner |
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 as a Royal Mail Ship. She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her running mate Mauretania three months later. In 1907, she gained the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing, which had been held by German ships for a decade.
Though reserved for conversion as an armed merchant cruiser, Lusitania was not commissioned as such during WWI but continued a transatlantic passenger service, sometimes carrying war materials, including a quantity of .303 ammunition, in her cargo. The German submarine U-20 hit her with a torpedo on 7 May 1915 at 14:10, 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, leading to her sinking about 18 minutes later. Only six of several dozen lifeboats and rafts were successfully lowered; there were 763 survivors out of the 1,960 people on board, while 1,197 perished.
The sinking killed more than a hundred US citizens and significantly increased American public support for entering the war, which occurred in 1917 with the United States declaration of war on Germany.