C., April 22, 1915). (Source 5) Despite this warning, only one passenger cancelled his plans.
Shortly, after the trip began, the ship was docked for a reason unknown to the passengers. It was later learned that 200 tones of ammunition were extracted from the Queen Margaret because it was having mechanical difficulties. The ship left port once again, and continued it's transatlantic voyage to Liverpool, a journey that it would never complete.
Interestingly enough, the Lusitania was not designed as a passenger cruise ship. It and its sister ship, the Mauretania, had originally been commissioned and designed specifically as armed auxiliary cruisers. The British Admiralty funded Cunard with an annual operating subsidy. The Lusitania's bulkhead design was exactly that of warships. Furthermore, the Lusitania was registered as an armed auxiliary cruiser around the same time it was equipped with the guns. (Source 6).
Prior to the journey the Royal Navy decided that bulkhead-designed cruisers should not enter war zones without a warship escort. It was arranged for the British cruiser, Juno, to escort the Lusitania through the war zone off the coast of Ireland. Admiral Fisher organized a meeting at the Admiralty and together they resolved to withdraw the Juno from the waters off of the coast of Southern Ireland. They failed to inform Captain Turner of this change of events, however, and the Captain sailed unknowingly into the war zone. (Source 6).
At 1:20 PM on May 7, 1915, a German submarine, U-20, surfaced to recharge its batteries off the coast of Ireland. Captain Schwieger then noticed the smoke coming from the stacks of the ship, and ordered the U-boat to advance. With undetermined knowledge that the ship contained contraband, the captain fired a torpedo. The G-type torpedo struck solidly into the bridge of the starboard side, damaging the second boiler rooms. Almost instantly, there was another explosion, splitting the ship in half and sinking it.
