The Sinking of the Lusitania

The Sinking of the Lusitania

On the 7 May 1915 at 14:30, then 240 metre long and 27 meter wide ship

the Lusitania sunk to the sea bed. Despite the fact that so many were

killed, 1,195 people, this ship has not become one of history’s most

well known vessels, unlike the Titanic. This is due to the fact that

the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans during the First World War. The

Lusitania and her sister ship, the Mauretania, were built by John

Brown & CO Ltd in Glasgow for the purpose of winning back the Blue

Riband, an award to ships crossing the Atlantic ocean in the quickest

time.

* http://www.lusitania.net/

* http://www.geocities.com/titanicandco/lusitania.html

* http://www.webtitanic.net/framelus.html

* http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/prm/bllusitaniaprm4.htm

* http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/lusitania.asp

* http://www.lostliners.com/Liners/Cunard/Lusitania/finalvoyage.htm

* http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html

The Lusitania became the largest ship of its time; it had 7 decks for

the passengers. The first class section was like a palace and, exactly

like the Titanic would later be; provided passengers with the

opportunity to travel in rooms decorated in different historical

styles. In first class there was great luxury in the form of music

rooms, smoking rooms, salons and cafés. One got the feeling of being

in a hotel as opposed to a ship, especially when in the second class

restaurant, the largest room on any ship at that time. The third class

passengers too had better standard of living than on any ship

previous, here they were not required to sleep in open beds but

inst...

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...e objects from the Lusitania wreckage. In 1993 Robert Ballard

visited the wreck and photographed it fir the National Geographic, he

reached the conclusion that the second explosion probably was not due

to the cargo carried by the Lusitania but that the torpedo had hit the

coal storage which had in turn exploded.

* http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html

Lusitania was a British passenger liner, carrying a number of

Americans, torpedoed off the Irish coast by the German submarine U-20

during World War I. The sinking and subsequent death of several

civilians is cited by many to be one of the first modern examples of

"total war." The nature of the explosions that sank the ship and the

politics surrounding her demise have never been satisfactorily

explained and to this day remain shrouded in a cloud of mystery.