Persia was a Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company passenger liner, built in 1900 by Caird & Company, Greenock, Scotland. It was torpedoed and sunk without warning on 30 December 1915, by German U-boat SMU U-38.
History
It was 499.8 ft long, with a beam of 54.3 ft, depth of hold of 24.5 ft and a size of, Persia carried triple expansion steam engines capable of driving the ship at 18 kn.[2][1]
Persia was sunk off Crete, while the passengers were having lunch, on 30 December 1915, by German World War I U-boat ace Max Valentiner (commanding SMU U-38). Persia sank in five to ten minutes, killing 343 of the 519 aboard. One reason for the large number of casualties was that only four of the lifeboats were successfully launched because of the list to port.[3] The sinking was highly controversial, as it was argued that it broke naval international law that stated that merchant ships carrying a neutral flag could be stopped and searched for contraband but not sunk unless the passengers and crew were put in a place of safety (for which lifeboats on the open sea were not sufficient).