Construction of the Lusitania

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Lusitania moved off the drawing board and became a solid reality on 16 June 1904, when John Brown and Company on Clydebank, Scotland, laid the keel for Yard No. 367. Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde hammered in the first rivet. She was to be built in tandem with her sister Mauretania, who would begin construction three months later at Swan Hunter on Tyne in England. Although both ships would have the same overall design, the discretion of the two shipyards would lead to slight, but noticeable, differences between the two ships. Due to Lusitania’s unprecedented size, John Brown had to reorganize its shipyard. Lusitania’s slipway took up the space of two previous slipways and was built on top of reinforcing piles to support the concentrated, unprecedented weight of Lusitania. Railway tracks alongside the slipway and across the deck plating would aid in bringing in building materials. The ship’s record-breaking length also meant that Lusitania would have to be launched diagonally. Lusitania was 787 feet long, longer than the river Clyde was wide. The shipbuilders took advantage of where a tributary met the river Clyde to maximize the length available for Lusitania to slide and float. Instead of the traditional method of shipbuilding where construction starts at both ends and meets in the middle, Lusitania’s construction started at the bow and moved towards the stern. The reason for this was actually because the plans for Lusitania’s engines and stern had not yet been finalized. Lusitania’s turbine engine rotors were built on site. The casings and shafts, however, were built separately in Sheffield, where John Brown’s Atlas works was located. The hull was completed to the level of the main deck. The three-bladed propellers, each 17 feet across, were fitted onto the ship and then encased in wood to protect them during launch. The superstructure

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