The Lusitania

The Lusitania The British ocean liner, Lusitania, amazed the world with its intricate design and incredibly far voyages. The technology implemented into the passenger ship had never been used on a public ship before. Unfortunately, during WWI the Lusitania was shot and sunk by German forces. On the bright side, the survivors had a lasting impact on their home country’s view of the war. The sinking of the Lusitania sparked many views against the Germans, which ultimately led to America joining the war. The design of the Lusitania was created by Leonard Peskett. He was Cunard Line’s senior naval architect and designer. Leonard is also known for the design of many Cunard ships like the RMS Mauretania, RMS Aquitania, and the RMS Carmania (“Construction”).
She was the first ship to cross the Atlantic in under 5 days at a speed of 23.99 knots (“Lusitania”). This speed gained the Lusitania the Blue Riband for Britain. The Blue Riband was gained and lost many times between the Lusitania and other ships of the Cunard Lines like the Mauretania (“Lusitania”). The Lusitania was on its 202-ocean voyage from New York to Liverpool while it had been heard that the Germans were sinking any boat in unclaimed waters. The Captain of the Lusitania was warned by other Captains that it could be dangerous for him to go out there and that he shouldn’t risk the Lusitania. He was also given advice to follow a zigzag path so it would be harder for them to be torpedoed but the Captain believed going straight would make it hard for them to keep up and land a torpedo. On May 7, 1915 the Lusitania had made it through most of the travels and it was on the final stretch to Liverpool. It was going at the ship’s phenomenal top speed when a crew mate spotted something in the water coming towards them. The men gathered around and watched and held on as the torpedo struck the side of the boat. The boat shook and everyone was startled coming out of their rooms to see what the loud noise was. Moments later a second blast shook the boat causing all havoc to break loose. The boat was sinking as people were running to the lifeboats, trying to find loved ones, or grabbing personal belongings. The
The ship had made 201 successful voyages before the German U-Boat, U-20, torpedoed it. Many people gave their lives trying to save others including two famous men, Alfred Vanderbilt and Carl Frohman. There were also conspiracies made about the government and what really caused the boat to sink based off of unproven facts. The aftermath caused propaganda in America and changed the minds of many Americans to want to join the war for revenge on Germany. Finally, Germany declared all boats hostile which upset America causing them to break all ties and join World War