R.M.S. Lusitania
1907
(Albatros AL-167)
- Type: Passenger
- Displacement: 31,550 tons
- Dimensions: 790 x 88 x 32 ft.
- Machinery: Steam turbines, quadruple screws = 25 knots
- Passengers: 2,165 (563 first class, 464 second class, 1,138 third class)
- Crew: 850
- Builder: John Brown & Co, Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland, 1907
- Service: Built for the Cunard Line's Liverpool-New York service. Departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage 7 Sep 1907. Largest ocean liner in service until her near sister Mauretania completed. Winner of the Blue Riband in Oct 1907 for fastest westbound crossing of the Atlantic, an honor she traded back and forth with her sister in the ensuing years. Her fastest crossing was in 1909, when she averaged 25.85 knots. Hit by one or two torpedoes, heeled over and sank within 18 minutes, off the Irish Coast, by German submarine U-20, 7 May 1915; 1198 lost, including 128 Americans. Public outcry eventually led to the suspension of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany until 1917; when it resumed, the United States joined World War I on the side of the Allies.
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