RMS Lusitania

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 as a Royal Mail Ship. She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister Mauretania three months later. In 1907, she gained the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing, which had been held by German ships for a decade.

Though reserved for conversion as an armed merchant cruiser, Lusitania was not commissioned as such during WWI but continued a transatlantic passenger service, sometimes carrying war materials, including a quantity of .303 ammunition, in her cargo. The German submarine U-20 hit her with a torpedo on 7 May 1915 at 14:10, 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, leading to her sinking about 18 minutes later. Only six of several dozen lifeboats and rafts were successfully lowered; there were 764 survivors out of the 1,960 people on board, while 1,198 perished.

The sinking killed 128 US citizens and significantly increased American public support for entering the war, which occurred in 1917 with the United States declaration of war on Germany after the torpedoeing of three other US merchant ships.