The Lusitania's Attack On The Titanic

The Lusitania was a mighty ship which was built to replace the infamous Titanic, it was just about same length and instead of leaving from Europe on its maiden voyage, it sailed from New York. This great vessel was able to hold up to 1,200 passengers and had an average speed of 25+ knots and was built by the Cunard Line out of Southampton, England. Although its sister ship the Titanic sunk years before, the Lusitania was set to sail across the Atlantic Ocean during the time there was a major threat lurking about the waters. The threat of submarines became a serious issue and the constant threat of them possibly being enemy U-boats were more common than none. The Lusitania sailed away from New York on 1 May, 1915 on its route to Liverpool with a significant about of wealthy and regular citizens trying to get away from America for a little while and spend time …show more content…
Under the command of Captain Lieutenant Walther Schwieger and holding a crew of 35 personnel, the U boat seen the ship within its periscope and according to numerous accounts, fired one torpedo towards the Lusitania. The torpedo struck the cruise liner and caused total chaos onboard and just like the Titanic before, everyone was caught by surprise and trying to survive the attack. One of the survivors who was on the Lusitania at them time of the sinking was Ms. Chrissi Aitken and she stated, “just before the attack, we were all sitting at lunch, and as a girlfriend was waiting for me I left the table before the others, and I never saw them again.” (1). She was referring to her father, brother and two-year-old son. The research of trying to find out more about this great vessel was an intense feat, but the RMS Lusitania was actually designated as a warship by Great Britain which the Germans built U-Boats to stop the transporting of weapons and supplies to the British