Lusitania

the long version

"The saga of the Lusitania is one of the most remarkable in the annals of maritime history. State-of-the-art when she went into service and the first express liner to be equipped with steam turbines, she outclassed all her rivals. She triumphantly restored British supremacy on the North Atlantic passenger routes and became an acknowledged commercial success; she was highly popular with her regular passengers. Her sinking, in just eighteen minutes in May 1915, by a German U-boat, with the loss of life comparable with that of the Titanic disaster, was at that time the most savage attack on civilians in the course of war and was widely denounced in allied and neutral countries, and the ramifications were felt right across Europe and America. From that day her loss has become encrusted with legends, including conspiracy theories, many of them created by German propaganda." "This new book unravels those myths and legends and tells a clear and compulsive saga of terrible maritime disaster, of clashes among three powerful nations, and a story of potentates and presidents, ambassadors and ministers of state, bankers, shipping magnates and spies and, not least, the captain, William Turner, who had to defend himself against charges of incompetence and fight for his reputation."--BOOK JACKET.