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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. After completing her
sea trials in the Firth of Clyde, she set
out from Liverpool - Queenstown/Ireland
and New York September 7th 1907.
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. She took the eastbound
record from Kaiser Wilhelm
in October of that year by increasing
that average from 23.58 to 23.61 knots.
Lusitania was returned to John
Brown’s in 1909 to be fitted with
new four blade propellers and broke her
last westbound speed record between
Liverpool and New York in August of that
year by averaging 25.65 knots.
Although the British Admiralty decided
against using Lusitania as an
armed merchant cruiser at the outbreak of
World War One, they retained her at
Liverpool for their convenience. The
Admiralty allowed Lusitania to be
used on two trips as a passenger ship
between Liverpool and New York in October
1914. With German submarines not
targeting passenger ships at that time,
Lusitania was then allowed to
provide a monthly service on the
Liverpool - New York route. After setting
out from Liverpool bound for New York
January 16th 1915, she encountered heavy
seas between Liverpool and Queenstown.
Her captain raised the American Stars
& Stripes flag at that time as he had
concerns about being attacked by
submarines in the treacherous conditions.
As America was not involved in the war at
that time, he new submarines were less
likely to attack an American flagged
ship.
The use of the American flag soon made
world news. This led to the German
Embassy in Washington sending a warning
to New York newspapers in April 1915
stating “passengers traveling on
Allied ships would be doing so at their
own risk”. On May 1st 1915,
Lusitania set out from New
York’s pier 54 with 1,959
passengers on board. It is thought she
could also have been carrying a cargo of
ammunition supplies. On May 7th, when
approximately 10 to15 miles off the Old
Head of Kinsale/Ireland, Lusitania
was attack by the German submarine
U-20. After one torpedo slammed
into her side, a second mysterious
explosion, inside the ship, caused so
much damage she sank within 20 minutes.
Many of the 1,198 lives lost with the
ship were American. This outraged the
American public so much many people
believe it had an influence on the United
States decision to join the war against
Germany in 1917.
Lusitania Memorial
Queenstown (now Cobh) Cemetery.
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