RMS Mauretania (1906) . In September 1909, "Mauretania" captured the Blue Riband for the fastest westbound crossing — a record that was to stand for more than two decades. In December 1911, as in New York City in December 1910, "Mauretania" broke loose from her moorings while in the River Mersey and sustained damage that caused the cancellation of her special speedy Christmas voyage to New York. In a quick change of events Cunard rescheduled "Mauretania"s voyage for "Lusitania", which had just returned from New York, under the command of Captain James Charles. "Lusitania" completed Christmas crossings for "Mauretania", carrying revellers back to
Crossing the T a parallel course. However, moving ahead of the enemy line on a perpendicular course (crossing the "T") enables a ship to launch salvos at the same target with both the forward and rear turrets, maximizing the chances for a hit. It also makes ranging errors less critical for the ship doing the crossing, while simultaneously more critical for the ship being crossed. In military terms, this is known as "enfilade fire". The tactic, designed for heavily armed and armoured battleships, was used with varying degrees of success with more lightly armed and armoured cruisers and heavy cruisers. Advances in gun