RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2015 :: RMTnews 18 SUNK: RMS Lusitania was a British liner, holder of the Blue Riband and briefly the world's biggest ship. She was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. In 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew. Women seafarers in the First World War