RMS Lusitania 1915
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | RMS Lusitania | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1915 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | four funnel liner | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Wikidata P828 has cause (on P793 event): torpedo attack |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Cunard Line | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Ireland | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 26 km from land |
| Position | 51.4167, -8.5500 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
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 World War I, but continued a transatlantic passenger service, sometimes carrying war materials 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 763 survivors out of the 1,960 people on board, while 1,197 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 three other US merchant ships had been torpedoed.
Diving & visiting
The wreck of Lusitania was located on 6 October 1935, 11 miles (18 km) south of the lighthouse at Kinsale. She lies on her starboard side at about a 30-degree angle, in roughly 305 feet (93 m) of water. The wreck is badly collapsed onto its starboard side, due to the force with which it struck the bottom coupled with the forces of winter tides and corrosion in the decades since the sinking. The keel has an "unusual curvature" which may be related to a lack of strength from the loss of its superstructure. The beam is reduced with the funnels missing—presumably due to deterioration.
The bow is the most prominent portion of the wreck with the stern damaged by depth charges.
Between 1931 and 1935, an American syndicate comprising Simon Lake, an important submarine inventor, and a US Navy officer, Captain H.H. Railey, negotiated a contract with the Admiralty and other British authorities to partially salvage Lusitania. The means of salvage was unique in that a 200-foot (61 m) steel tube, five feet in diameter, which enclosed stairs, and a dive chamber at the bottom would be floated out over the Lusitania wreck and then sunk upright, with the dive chamber resting on the main deck of Lusitania. Divers would then take the stairs down to the dive chamber and then go out of the chamber to the deck of Lusitania.
Location
- Recorded position: 51.4167, -8.5500 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
- Nearest coast: Ireland
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article RMS Lusitania (revision 1378072347), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”, “Simon Lake's attempt to salvage in the 1930s”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-772 1944 · 36 km
- U-260 1945 · 38 km
- MV Kowloon Bridge 1986 · 44 km
- SS Arabic 1915 · 65 km
- Surveillante 75 km
- HMHS Llandovery Castle 1918 · 95 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off Ireland · North Atlantic Ocean · First World War