These two ships were the Lusitania and Mauretania.
The Lusitania was the first of the pair, coming out of the John
Brown & Company's Clydebank yards. However, there was a major
problem that was found in her trials, which had to be corrected
immediately. When traveling at high speed, the stern area vibrated The Lusitania was the first major liner to use
turbines as her means of propulsion. Yes, liners had previously used
turbines, but not liners of this scale. The decision to use turbines
came with another pair of Cunard ships, the Caronia and the Carmania.
The two were made as identical as possible, with the exception of their
machinery. The Caronia used quadruple-expansion engines, and
the Carmania used turbines. On their sea trials, the Caronia
performed with a service speed of 19.7 knots, with a clean hull. Carmania,
on The Lusitania's primary goal was to win back the
Blue Riband from the Hamburg-America liner Deutschland, which had
set a record in July 1900 of 22.84 knots. At this, Lusitania
was successful, winning the Riband on her second voyage, with an average
speed on 24 knots. Also like the German liners, she was to have four
funnels. However, Besides setting records in speed, and setting a trend
for future four-stack liners, the Lusitania, like the Mauretania,
set the standard for beauty in ocean liners as well. Their stems
were sleek and straight, their bridges were rounded to perfection, their
superstructures were low, and topped with four slightly raked
funnels. Furthermore, she had a very sleek counter stern. The Lusitania,
however, had a slight edge in beauty compared to her sister. The Lusitania's
air vents were of a different design than the Mauretania's, which
made them smaller The Lusitania and the Mauretania continued to break each other's records, with the Blue Riband passing between the two of them with regularity. The Lusitania was first to average 25 knots, and then soon enough, both of them were sailing at over 26 knots, and were improving on their records by a minute here, a minute there, etc. The duo of Lusitania and Mauretania became a trio in 1914 with the entry of the four-funnel Aquitania. However, this was not to last but for a few crossings. World War I soon began, and plans were made (though later abandoned) to turn these ships into armed merchant cruisers. Mauretania and Aquitania were seized by the British government for the war effort. Lusitania, however, remained in Cunard service, though for added security, her funnels were changed from the traditional Cunard red-and-black to all black, she flew no flag, and her name was painted out. On May 1, 1915, the German Embassy ran an advertisement in American newspapers which warned the traveling public of the dangers of using British-flag liners, due to the fact that a state of war existed between Germany and Great Britain. Because of this, these ships were subject to possible destruction by German submarines, or U-boats. However, the Lusitania's passengers were not concerned. Though one of her boiler rooms was shut down in order to conserve fuel, she could still easily make 21 knots. She set sail, with 1,959 people, a majority of whom were Americans. On May 7, the Lusitania neared the Irish coast. Captain William Turner had been warned of lurking submarines by the Admiralty earlier that day. The Lusitania encountered fog while thirty miles out. Turner ordered her slowed down to 18 knots, but still, this was an opportunity, because due to the fog, Lusitania was unable to be seen unless one was almost right on top of her, providing a haven from submarines. At 11:30 AM that day, the Irish coast was visible, and the weather had cleared up, as the voyage was nearing its end. However, the captain of German submarine U-20, Walther Schwieger, had other plans for her. At 2:12 PM, the Lusitania's crew spotted the track of a torpedo, which hit the ship just aft of the bridge. Lusitania shook violently as a result, but the worst was still to come. A second explosion, caused by the ignition of coal dust in her mostly-empty coal bunkers, rocked the ship tremendously, knocking out power, and creating a large blast of water and the like going up out of the water. Furthermore, a gigantic hole was left in the Lusitania's hull, and she began to sink by the head. On board, panic broke out, and because of this, lifeboats were lowered in utter confusion. Due to the list, passengers had to jump into them from the starboard side, as they were further out than normally, and on the port side, the lifeboats were scraping along her hull, causing the breakage of many a lifeboat, plunging their occupants into the sea. Eighteen minutes later, the Lusitania was on her starboard side at the bottom of the sea, taking 1,195 people with her. However, all was not lost for those who survived the sinking. Fishing boats came and rescued those who had survived, and brought them ashore. But that was not the end of the Lusitania by any means. While the Lusitania herself was gone, her spirit lived on, further encouraging the Americans to eventually join World War I on the side of the allies. The sinking also created considerable uproar against Germany because she was sunk without warning, sending over a thousand innocent people to their deaths. The "Take up the sword of justice" poster at right serves to illustrate this feeling, which was prevalent after the Lusitania went down.
The Lusitania now lies on her starboard side, and is slowly deteriorating, now being only half of her original beam, with the superstructure slowly sliding onto the ocean floor, and her funnels completely rusted away. Lusitania Vital Statistics: Gross tonnage: 31,550 Length: 787 feet Width: 87 feet Machinery: Steam turbines geared to quadruple screw Speed: 25 knots Capacity: 563 First, 464 Second, 1,138 Third Built: John Brown and Company Limited, Clydebank, Scotland, 1907 Demise: Torpedoed and sunk off the Irish coast, May 7, 1915 The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc. |
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The
Lusitania, in a sense, was the result of J.P. Morgan's interest in
creating a monopoly of the transatlantic liner business, which was known
as the International Mercantile Marine, or IMM. Morgan, in 1902, was
purchasing line after line, and then eventually the White Star Line.
When White Star was bought by Morgan, and thus became American-owned, the
British Parliament acted, because they did not want their other great
shipping company, the Cunard Line, to become American-owned as well.
As a result of Parliament's action, the Cunard Line was given a
twenty-year contract, which in return for a pledge to remain strictly
British-owned, provided the funds needed to build the world's two largest
and fastest liners.
violently.
As a result, the area had to be completely gutted, and every means of
strengthening and support had to be installed in order to correct the
defect.
the other hand, exceeded that speed by nearly a knot, and that was with
a dirty hull. Thus the Lusitania and Mauretania would
be powered
by turbines.
unlike the German liners, her funnels were to be
evenly spaced across her, and not in pairs like the German liners.
Of the fourteen four-stack liners, she was the first to sport her stacks
evenly spaced.
and
less visible, and this served to make the funnels appear taller.
The
news media also covered the sinking's happening, and its aftermath.
Both sides of the war ran stories on the sinking. The New York Times
warned of an impending grave crisis. English tabloids denounced the Huns,
accusing them of murder. German newspapers covered the story from
their point of view. Note that in the German newspaper shown at left
that the ship depicted in the picture is in fact not the Lusitania,
but is the White Star liner Titanic!
