RMS Lusitania Sinking of the RMS Lusitania. RMS Lusitania RMS "Lusitania" was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking presaged the United States declaration of war on Germany in 1917. The ship was a holder of the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship . The Cunard Line launched "Lusitania" in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic
First engagement of neutral United States in World War II before the attack on Pearl Harbor to attack. The "Niblack" attacked with depth charges and drove off the U-boat. There were no casualties on board "Niblack" or the U-boat. By coincidence, USS "Niblack" was later in the same convoy as, and picked up survivors from, the USS "Reuben James" when that ship was sunk. The first American hostile action against Axis forces that resulted in physical destruction was on 14 September 1941, when destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. The action was based on an agreement with Danish Ambassador to the United States Henrik Kauffmann in April 1941 to patrol the Danish island. The