'The Cunard Liner "Lusitania".', c1910. Ocean liner RMS 'Lusitania', launched in 1906, was built for the Cunard Steamship Line by John Brown & Co on the Clyde. One of the fastest liners of her day, she held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing from 1907 until losing it to her sister, the 'Mauretania', in 1909. On 7 May 1915, 'Lusitania' was sunk off the Irish coast by a German submarine, the U-20, with the loss of 1198 lives.