(Above) The youngest members of the crew of HMS King George V, all 16, seen listening to a tale from Petty Officer Jenman, 48, who had been all over the world during his 25 years in the Navy
Exhibition: All Aboard: Stories of War at Sea, Special Exhibitions Gallery, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, July 17 2010 – April 25 2011
The RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner torpedoed by a German U-Boat on May 7 1915, sunk eight miles outside the Old Head Kinsale, Ireland.
The monumental disaster killed more than 1,000 people onboard, inflaming anti-German sentiment and bringing the United States into World War One.
Large ship's bell recovered from RMS Lusitania on permanent display alongside the exhibition in Imperial War Museum North's Main Sepcial Exhibition Space
The bell of the old liner is on display in this exhibition at the IWM North, looking at major maritime events since 1914 through objects, art, photographs and film.
It marks some of the anniversaries of the most significant moments at sea in British history. This is the 70th year since the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the longest military campaigns of World War Two.
German warships tried to prevent convoys of allied merchant ships entering the UK and Soviet Union for almost six years. By 1943, the British and their allies successfully defeated the U-boats in a series of battles, driving the Germans from the ocean.
(Above) U-boat Operation: A German U-Boat commander tracking a British merchant ship through his periscope during an attack on a convoy
"As an island nation, the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of men and women at sea in wartime was hugely important to Britain's history," says Jim Forrester, Imperial War Museum North Director.
"There are incredible tales of real people involved in dramatic events on the high seas. It shows how war at sea has shaped all of our lives."
August marks the 20th anniversary of the First Gulf War, which began with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops in 1990.
(Above) The Falklands Conflcit: The Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield on fire after being struck by an AM.39 Exocet missile fired from an Argentine aircraft from a distance of six miles
The war saw a coalition UN force led by the UK and the US, and the exhibition shares powerful stories such as an account from Richard Boswell's experience on HMS Manchester.
Visitors can see what it was like to be a sailor by trying on JackSpeak – traditional clothing worn on the deck in the Arctic – and learn naval words and phrase origins. They can also listen to real life stories on suffering and survival.
Ship-Shape Saturdays at the Museum offer theatrical performances and object handling and interactivity sessions, including explaining why a submarine can deliberately let water in.
Admission free.
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