Lusitania puppet Kingdom of Northern Lusitania as one of the successor states to Portugal under the assumption that such a campaign would result in an easy French victory. The province was also the namesake of the North Atlantic Ocean Liner RMS Lusitania infamous for being torpedoed by a German Uboat in 1915. The ship’s owners the Cunard Line commonly named their vessels after Roman provinces with the Lusitania so being called after the Roman Iberian province to the north of the Strait of Gibraltar while her sistership RMS Mauretania was named after the Roman North African province on the south side
RMS Lusitania 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale when the liner crossed in front of at 14:10. Due to the liner's great speed, some believe the intersection of the German U-boat and the liner to be coincidence, as "U-20" could hardly have caught the fast vessel otherwise. There are discrepancies concerning the speed of "Lusitania", as it had been reported travelling not near its full speed. Walther Schwieger, the commanding officer of the U-boat, gave the order to fire one torpedo, which struck "Lusitania" on the starboard bow, just beneath the wheelhouse. Moments later, a second explosion erupted from within