She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister Mauretania three months later and was awarded the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in Lusitania was sunk on her nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May by the German submarine U , 11 miles 18 km off the Old Head of Kinsale , Ireland , killing 1, passengers, crew and stowaways.
German shipping lines were Cunard's main competitors for the custom of transatlantic passengers in the early 20th century, and Cunard responded by building two new 'ocean greyhounds': Lusitania and RMS Mauretania. Cunard used assistance from the British Admiralty to build both new ships, on the understanding that the ship would be available for military duty in time of war. During construction gun mounts for deck cannons were installed but no guns were ever fitted.
They were equipped with lifts, wireless telegraph, and electric light, and provided 50 percent more passenger space than any other ship; the first-class decks were known for their sumptuous furnishings. A series of tit-for-tat moves intensified the naval portion of World War I. The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of the war; as a reprisal to German naval mining efforts, the UK then declared the North Sea a military area in the autumn of and mined the approaches. As their own reprisal, Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom a war zone, wherein all allied ships would be liable to be sunk without warning.
Britain then declared all food imports for Germany were contraband. The German embassy in the United States also placed fifty newspaper advertisements warning people of the dangers of sailing on a British ship in the area, which happened to appear just as RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain on 1 May Objections were made by the British and Americans that threatening to torpedo all ships indiscriminately was wrong, whether it was announced in advance or not.
On the afternoon of 7 May, a German U-boat torpedoed Lusitania 11 miles 18 km off the southern coast of Ireland inside the declared war zone. A second internal explosion occurred.
