Changes

To meet the speed requirements the ships were fitted with new Parsons steam turbine engines powering four three-bladed propellers; their hulls were designed around a "nine-to-one" ratio of length versus beam, ensuring their power would push them easily to meet the projected speed requirements. After tank testing in the Admiralty, the length of each was fixed at 787 feet.

To meet the speed requirements the ships were fitted with new Parsons steam turbine engines powering four three-bladed propellers; their hulls were designed around a "nine-to-one" ratio of length versus beam, ensuring their power would push them easily to meet the projected speed requirements. After tank testing in the Admiralty, the length of each was fixed at 787 feet.

''Lusitania's'' keel was laid in May 1905, and when she was launched in June 1906, she was the largest vessel afloat. Passenger accommodations rivaled the finest hotels in Europe; even third-class accommodations, changed from standard open-berthing to four-to-six berth cabins, were palatial when compared to other ships.  In her sea trials her engines performed as expected, generating 68,000 horsepower while driving the ship forward at 25 knots, compared to 10 knots for a typical freighter (and 3 knots for a submarine underwater).

''Lusitania's'' keel was laid in May 1905, and when she was launched in June 1906, she was the largest vessel afloat. Passenger accommodations rivaled the finest hotels in Europe; even third-class accommodations, changed from standard open-berthing to four-to-six berth cabins, were palatial when compared to other ships.  In her sea trials her engines performed as expected, generating 68,000 horsepower while driving the ship forward at 25 knots, compared to 10 knots for a typical freighter (and 3 knots for a submarine underwater).

Thinking of her possible wartime service in the future, ''Lusitania'' was designed with her coal bunkers placed alongside her boiler rooms, the theory being that a hit by a torpedo or ramming would be absorbed by these compartments and not affect her vital machinery.   

Thinking of her possible wartime service in the future, ''Lusitania'' was designed with her coal bunkers placed alongside her boiler rooms, the theory being that a hit by a torpedo or ramming would be absorbed by these compartments and not affect her vital machinery.