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 avoid sinking neutral ships. "Lusitania" was scheduled to arrive in Liverpool on 6 March 1915. The Admiralty issued her specific instructions on how to avoid submarines. Admiral Henry Oliver ordered HMS "Louis" and HMS "Laverock" to escort "Lusitania", and took the further precaution of sending the Q-ship HMS "Lyons" to patrol Liverpool Bay. The destroyer commander attempted to discover the whereabouts of "Lusitania" by telephoning Cunard, who refused to give out any information and referred him to the Admiralty. At sea, the ships contacted "Lusitania" by radio but did not have the codes used to communicate with merchant ships. Captain