Lusitania Home

Welcome to The Lusitania Resource!

Here you will find facts and history about the British passenger ship RMS Lusitania, her sinking, well as the biographies of passenger and crew on board when the German submarine U-20 torpedoed and sank her on 7 May 1915.

2023 – 20 Years of The Lusitania Resource!

Lusitania propellor at Merseyside Maritime Museum

This year marks the 20th year of The Lusitania Resource‘s presence on the internet! I really want to thank of you visitors, contributors, and researchers who have allowed this site to grow in the last twenty years into an online encyclopedia that has far exceeded my own expectations.

As I run this site as a hobby and still have to maintain a day job, I hope you can forgive me for the (sadly) very, very sporadic updates and corrections to the site. Again, I couldn’t have done this without all of you, and I’m incredibly grateful for your continued support.

Please, let us continue to honor the RMS Lusitania and her passengers and crew, and may we never forget the horrific lessons of war. Thank you.

Old Head Lusitania Museum & Signal Tower is looking for your help!

The Lusitania Museum/Old Head Signal Tower group of Kinsale, Ireland, the new owners of RMS Lusitania, are at an advanced stage in the design process of their planned state-of-the-art museum. The late Mr. Gregg Bemis gifted the wreck to Lusitania Museum/Old Head Signal Tower Heritage CLG in 2019 in recognition of the achievements of the work of this local community voluntary group and to continue his legacy. You can watch the YouTube video and visit the link to the GoFundMe page below.

Fast Facts

The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 on 7 May 1915, becoming a casualty of World War I. 128 American civilians died in the attack, turning American opinion against Germany, making the sinking a turning point of the war. However, the United States would not declare war on Germany and enter World War I until April 1917.

  • Date attacked: 7 May 1915
  • Duration of sinking: 18 minutes
  • People aboard: 1,960*
  • Survivors: 767* (4 died in subsequent months)
  • Victims: 1,193 (per this site) + 4 survivors who died soon thereafter = 1,197*
  • Americans killed: 128* (officially)
  • Passenger ship carrying war materiel for the British Army when she was attacked and sunk
  • Wreck location:  51°25′N 8°33′W, ~300 feet (91 meters) underwater, ~11 miles (18 km) south of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland

*Numbers for passengers and crew subject to revision as names are cross-checked and confirmed by family members and researchers.

Other fast facts:

  • Gross tonnage: 31,550
  • Length overall: 787 feet / 239.8 meters
  • Beam: 87 feet 6 inches / 26.7 meters
  • Draft: 33 feet 6 inches / 10.2 meters
  • Top speed: 26.35 knots

Read more at “Lusitania Facts and Figures

Sticky Posts

Lusitania Passengers and Crew

Final Crossing (#202), departing New York City on 1 May 1915

Read more at “People

From the Lusitania Blog…

Read more from the blog

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Dedication

This site is dedicated to the RMS Lusitania
and all those who built and those who sailed on her.

Dedication to those who built and those who sailed aboard Lusitania

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