Nearly 1200 people lost their lives when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on this date in 1915. A British ship, when the Lusitania first sailed in 1907, she was the largest ocean liner on the sea. Before the ship set sail in May 1915, warnings were issued by the German Embassy in Washington, reminding passengers of the state of war between Germany and Great Britain and advising them not to sail with the Lusitania. The torpedoed ship went down in just 20 minutes.
