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
German submarine U-43 (1939) German submarine U-43 (1939) German submarine "U-43" was a Type IXA U-boat of Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine" during World War II. The keel for "U-43" was laid down in August 1938 at Bremen; she was launched in May 1939 and commissioned in August. Between November 1939 and July 1943, the U-boat conducted 14 combat patrols, sinking 21 merchant ships for a total of , damaging one ship of and another of - enough for it to be declared a total loss. "U-43" was sunk on 30 July 1943 southwest of the Azores by a torpedo dropped by a United States Navy