One of these was the shutting down of her No. Economizing measures were taken, however. Lusitania remained in commercial service although bookings aboard her were by no means strong during that autumn and winter, demand was strong enough to keep her in civilian service. Among the most recognizable of these liners, some were eventually used as troop transports, while others became hospital ships. Many of the large liners were laid up over the autumn and winter of 1914–1915, in part due to falling demand for passenger travel across the Atlantic, and in part to protect them from damage due to mines or other dangers. When it turned out that the German Navy was kept in check by the Royal Navy, and their commerce threat almost entirely evaporated, it very soon seemed that the Atlantic was safe for ships like Lusitania, if the bookings justified the expense of keeping them in service. During the ship's first eastbound crossing after the war started, she was painted in a drab grey colour scheme in an attempt to mask her identity and make her more difficult to detect visually. Īt the outbreak of hostilities, fears for the safety of Lusitania and other great liners ran high. Lusitania remained on the official AMC list and was listed as an auxiliary cruiser in the 1914 edition of Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships, along with Mauretania. They were also very distinctive so smaller liners were used as transports instead. The Admiralty then cancelled their earlier decision and decided not to use her as an AMC after all large liners such as Lusitania consumed enormous quantities of coal (910 tons/day, or 37.6 tons/hour) and became a serious drain on the Admiralty's fuel reserves, so express liners were deemed inappropriate for the role when smaller cruisers would do. At the outbreak of the First World War, the British Admiralty considered her for requisition as an armed merchant cruiser, and she was put on the official list of AMCs. ![]() When Lusitania was built, her construction and operating expenses were subsidized by the British government, with the provision that she could be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser if need be. See also: U-boat Campaign (World War I) and RMS Lusitania The argument continues to the present day. Military ammunition has been discovered in the wreck. Several attempts have been made over time since the sinking, to dive to the wreck seeking information about how the ship sank. ![]() 303 calibre), almost 5,000 shrapnel shell casings (for a total of some 50 tons), and 3,240 brass percussion artillery fuses. Argument over whether the ship was a legitimate military target raged back and forth throughout the war, but after the war it was revealed that at the time of her sinking she was carrying over 4 million rounds of machine-gun ammunition (. ![]() The contemporary investigations in both the United Kingdom and the United States into the precise causes of the ship's loss were obstructed by the needs of wartime secrecy and a propaganda campaign to ensure all blame fell upon Germany. ![]() It also contributed to the American entry into the War two years later images of the stricken liner were used heavily in US propaganda and military recruiting campaigns. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany. 761 people survived out of the 1,266 passengers and 696 crew aboard, and 123 of the casualties were American citizens. : 429 The U-20’s mission was to torpedo warships and liners in the Lusitania’s area. After the single torpedo struck, a second explosion occurred inside the ship, which then sank in only 18 minutes. The Cunard liner was attacked by U-20 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. The passengers had been warned before departing New York of the danger of voyaging into the area in a British ship. The attack took place in the declared maritime war-zone around the UK, shortly after unrestricted submarine warfare against the ships of the United Kingdom had been announced by Germany following the Allied powers' implementation of a naval blockade against it and the other Central Powers. The RMS Lusitania was a UK-registered ocean liner that was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War on, about 11 nautical miles (20 kilometres) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. Class=notpageimage| Sinking of RMS Lusitania on a map of Ireland
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