THE GOVERNMENT HAS released new images of the RMS Lusitania – a ship that sank off the coast of Ireland 100 years ago.

These images have been revealed today by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys and Minister of State in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Joe McHugh.

They have been created using state-of-the-art sonar imagery and shows the vessel as it currently is on the sea floor 100 years after it sank.

Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Speaking about the new images, Minister Humphreys, said:

It is fitting that these images are being in the centenary year of the sinking of the Lusitania.  The imagery will provide important information on how the shipwreck has changed over the last 100 years.

Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

The Luistania sank 11 miles off the coast of Cork on the 7 May 1915. The boat was torpedoed by a German submarine U-20.

After two explosions it took only 18 minutes for the boat to go down – taking with it the lives of 1,198 passengers. Around 760 people on board the ship survived.

A series of events have been taking place in Cork to mark the 100 year commemoration.

Pictures: Survivors of the Lusitania remember ‘murder by savages’

Also: It’s 100 years since the ‘biggest human tragedy’ ever off the Irish coast