Welcome to our page on the Lusitania.
Stats:
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| The Lusitania in port. |
| Captain |
Captain William Turner |
| Passenger Accommodation |
1st class-563
2nd class-464
3rd class-1,138 |
| Service Speed |
25 knots |
| Gross Tonnage |
31,550 tons |
| Launch Date |
June 7, 1906 |
| Date of Demise |
May 7, 1915 at 2:15PM |
About the Ship
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| The Lusitania in England. |
In the early 1890’s , the Blue Riband (the prize for the biggest and best ship in service that year) was held by British ships Campania and Lucania. Until 1897, the Nordeutscher Lloyd ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse took the Blue Riband from the Cunard Line ship’s. From then on the German ships held the trophy without a challenge. In 1903, Cunard Lines and the British Government came together on an agreement to build 2 huge superliners, the Lusitania and the Mauretania, capable of winning back the Blue Riband for Britian and holding it. The agreement was that the government was to pay £2,600,000 to Cunard to build 2 ships that would be able to do 25 knots, in addition the government would pay an annual fee to Cunard on the condition that the ships could be armed and and they would be on call in case of a national emergency.
The contract of building the Lusitania went to John Brown & Co Ltd, Glasgow and the keel was laid in May, 1905. The ship was lauched on 7 June, 1906 by Lady Inverclyde. The Lusitania was the largest ship afloat at its launch. It had 7 decks for passenger accommodations. The Lusitania was a pioneer in machinery, machinery placement and passenger accommodations. Third Class passengers were now put in cabins berths instead of open berths. The machinery was unconventional and different from all the rest of ships. The coal bunkers ran along the sides of the ships and this later turned out effective when the ship was turned into a wartime vessel. The Lusitania was designed to carry 12 quick firing, 6 inch guns.
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| The Lusitania at sea. |
On September 7, 1907, the Lusitania left Liverpool on its maiden voyage to Queenstown and New York. An estimated 200,000 people gathered to witness the ship’s departure. In June 1908, the ship’s outer propellers were replaced with improved versions and in November Captain William Turner was appointed to command the Lusitania. He was a Liverpool man who first went to sea when he was just 13 on board the sailing ship White Star. He joined Cunard in 1878 and was holder of the Humane Society’s silver medal for saving life at sea. During his careers he served on the Cherbourg, Umbria, Carpathia, Ivernia and Caronia. Soon, in February 1909, the ship was fitted with a new four-bladed propellers.
On a voyage leaving Liverpool on 16 January 1915 the Lusitania was involved in an international incident which gave the ship's presence in the North Atlantic a very high profile. The ship was travelling through rough seas on the way to Queenstown and, fearing the possibility of a torpedo attack, the Captain hoisted the 'stars and stripes'. With America still neutral Germany was reluctant to bring her into the war on the side of the Allies, so it was considered that this would guarantee a safe passage. The use of the US flag, however, came to the notice of the press and the incident made world news. Soon, in April 1915, the German embassy in Washington sent warnings to the newspapers in New York to the effect that the passengers travelling on Allied ships did so at their own risk.
For its 17 April voyage from Liverpool the Lusitania was commanded by Captain William Turner, who relieved Captain Dow when he went on leave. It made its final sailing from Pier 54 in New York on 1 May 1915, with some 1,959 pas-sengers on board, amongst whom were the usual sprinkling of famous and wealthy. The cargo was entered on the manifest as foodstuffs, metal rods, ingots and boxes of cartridges. Controversy about the true nature of the cargo would persist for many years.
What happened to the Lusitania
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