Overview of Lusitania

Lusitania

During the late 1890’s Germany produced four new boats that threatened to put an end to British dominance of the Atlantic. Britain tried to retaliate by planning the commission of two ships in 1902. The ships would have to be the largest, fastest and most luxurious boat ever built. Before Lusitania could be built though finance had to be acquired, the British government agreed to finance a £2,600,000 loan. On the bias that the ship could be called into active military service whenever the need arose. The ship took a little over 5 years to fully design and construct. On September 7^th 1907 the Lusitania sailed her maiden voyage from Britain to New York. In August of 1914 WW1 broke out, the bias had been remembered and British Navy needed the ship for wartime services. Scheduled voyages were still being held when available even though the ship was under command of the British Navy. Passengers boarded the Lusitania in New York on May 1, 1915, for the voyage to Liverpool England. Even though German authorities warned Lusitania multiple times, that she would have to cross the war zone to reach Liverpool the boat still left on schedule. On Friday May 7^th 1915 the boat reached the warzone, around 1:30 PM a lookout saw a torpedo heading towards the Lusitania. Panic set in among the passengers and the crew once the torpedo hit the boat, most passengers jumped into the sea while others tried to secure lift rafts.  The submarine guilty of sinking the Lusitania was a German u boat commanded by Captain Schwieger. It took only 18 minutes from impact of the torpedo until the Lusitania was completely submerged into the ocean. Of the 1,195 passengers only 764 survived, 41% of male crew members survived, 36% of female crew members survived, 38.8% of male passengers survived, 38.6% female passengers survived and only 27.1 of the children survived.