RMS

1
RMS Lusitania

• Poshea

2
Cunard Line

• Cunard owned the Lusitania. She was built in
  Clydebank in Scotland. On the 7th of June 1906
  she was launched.
• Her route was New York to Liverpool. She was in
  service until 1915.

3
European War Zone

• During the 1st World War this was the exclusion
  zone around Ireland.
• This meant that any ships sailing here might be
  torpedoed by German submarines.

4
U20

• Around this time, the submarine(u boat) U20
  appeared off the Irish coast of the Old Head of
  Kinsale. U20 was captained by Kapitän-leutnant
  Schwieger.
• In all, there were about 15 German U boats in
  the "European War Zone" -

5
Warning

• Newspapers printed the warning of submarine
  attacks next to Cunard's list of departure
  dates.
• Still, the liner was packed with passengers. The
  ship was billed by Cunard as the "fastest
  steamer now in the Atlantic service" and it was
  believed that the Lusitania would not be
  attacked.

6
The Irish Coast

• On May 7th, the Lusitania came into sight of the
  Irish coast. The ship's captain, Captain Turner,
  became worried as he could see no other ship
  ahead of him - especially, he was worried as he
  could see no protective naval ships.
• The Lusitania was a sitting duck

7
Attack

• At 14.02, the first torpedo was fired. The
  Lusitania took just 18 minutes to sink.
• 1,153 passengers and crew drowned. 128 of them
  were Americans. There was anger in America and
  Great Britain. But some questions remained
  unanswered

8
Questions

• U20 had fired only 1 torpedo. Yet 2 explosions
  had occurred. Why ?
• It is thought that a second explosion occurred
  because the Lusitania was carrying more than a
  liner should have been carrying.
• In the hold of the Lusitania were 4,200 cases of
  ammunition . These exploded when the torpedo hit.
  

9
Rescue

•  After the sinking, the Ballycotton lifeboat,
  with other local boats, who had heard word of the
  Lusitania's distress signals, rowed for 3½ hours
  to reach the site of the sinking.
• They managed to rescue 764 people, three of whom
  later died from injuries.

10
Burial

• Among those who died was Irish art collector Sir
  Hugh Lane and millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt.
  Most of the 764 people who were saved were landed
  in Cobh.
• Only 289 bodies were recovered and 169 of these
  are buried in the Old Church Cemetery in Cobh in
  three mass graves and 20 individual plots.
• Forty five of those buried were unidentified and
  their coffins were merely marked with a number.

11
Aftermath

• The sinking of the Lusitania led directly to
  America entering World War I.
• "Remember the Lusitania" were the words that
  meant doom for Germany.
• America entering the war led to the allies
  winning it.
• For weeks afterwards bodies were washed up on the
  Irish coast.

12
Centenary

• 7 May 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the
  sinking of Lusitania.
• To commemorate the occasion, Cunard's Ms Queen
  Victoria is coming in May 2015 to Cork in
  commemoration.
• There will, also, be many other ceremonies to
  commemorate the event