On May 7, 1915, the British passenger steam ship, the RMS Lusitania, was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland. This 40,000 ton behemoth—the largest man-made mobile object in the world—was carrying 1,959 passengers and crew. She sank within 20 minutes of the torpedo strike. The death toll was 1,198 people, including 37 children. The United States and Britain considered the attack an atrocity, calling it plainly, murder, while Germany heralded the event as a display of German might and naval power. However, the circumstances surrounding the Lusitania's sinking were not so simple. Was the sinking a set-up to bring the United States into the war? Why did she sink so quickly? Why weren't the Admiralty's orders followed by the Lusitania's captain? The truth may never be known.