Remembrance Service. The sinking of the Lusitania

Today, to mark the 97th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, a remembrance service was held in Liverpool, next to one of her salvaged propellers.

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which is part of present day Portugal. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line’s heavily traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New York City, which included a port of call at Queenstown, (now Cobh) Ireland on westbound crossings and Fishguard, Wales on eastbound crossings.

During the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against Britain, the ship was identified and torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 on 7 May 1915 and sank in 18 minutes. The vessel went down 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.