The history of the magnificent British ship—and an investigation into the mysteries behind her catastrophic sinking by a German submarine.

This is the complete story of the ocean liner remembered today for her dramatic end—torpedoed on May 19, 1915, off the coast of Ireland, during the First World War. But the ship’s story dates back to 1902, and her sea journeys began in 1906, when Cunard launched her as the world’s largest passenger ship.

This volume not only covers the U-boat attack that killed 1,197 of those aboard, but reveals the history prior to that cataclysmic event. It recounts the ship’s design and building, telling of the groundbreaking advances in maritime engineering that she represented as well as a hitherto unheard-of degree of opulence. It also takes a closer look at the disaster that befell her and, with the help of leading experts, examines the circumstances of her destruction and tries to determine why this magnificent vessel was lost in a mere eighteen minutes.