Background on Ship The RMS Lusitania was a turbine-engine-enabled ship launched by the Cunard Line in 1907. The ship was a passenger ship that made regular trips back and forth between New York and Liverpool. Known to be one of the most luxurious vessels of time, Lusitania was fairly fast, especially for its time, able to travel up to 25 knots, enabling it to make 202 crossings of its route in its eight-year long service.
The Lusitania's Last Voyage On May 1st, 1915, the Lusitania departed New York for its destination of Liverpool, with 1,959 passengers and crew aboard; a voyage that was expected to be peacefully uneventful. Only 19 of the ship’s twenty-five boilers were put to use that day, reducing the speed to twenty-one knots. This was not expected to raise any issues, though, since German submarines at the time could only travel up to fourteen knots. On May 7th, the Lusitania arrived in the waters off of Ireland, which were a war zone. The captain, William Turner, ordered that the ship slow down due to the heavy fog in the area. However, this made them an easier target for the Germans, who were perusing the area at the time, which the captain was made aware of, although it did not alter his decision. Passenger liners in the area were ordered to move at their maximum speed in zigzag patterns to limit their chances of being attacked.
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Captain Turner disregarded this, though, with deadly consequences. German Lieutenant Commander Walter Schwieger was patrolling the area, searching for British ships to attack, and when he zeroed in on the ship, he saw its four stacks, and assuming it was carrying weapons to be used against the Germans, ordered that it be torpedoed.
The torpedo hit the starboard bow, and this caused a second explosion from the coal in the engine room. The ship broke in two, and the bow sunk just eighteen minutes after the torpedo struck, with the stern following soon thereafter. There were forty-eight lifeboats on board the Lusitania, but only six were launched. Some were crushed or sunk upon impact, and many others were prevented from launch because the ship listed to starboard, rendering them useless. A staggering 1,198 died from drowning and hypothermia, the vast majority of which were British and Canadian. One hundred twenty-three of the one hundred thirty-nine Americans aboard perished. Distress signals were sent out frantically to Queenstown, Ireland, who came to aid as soon as they could, arriving within two hours. The rescuers managed to rescue seven hundred sixty-four survivors, including the captain.
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Following Quote:
Excerpt from the German submarine commander Walter Schwieger's personal war diary describing what he saw after he order the firing of a torpedo at the Lusitania:
Excerpt from the German submarine commander Walter Schwieger's personal war diary describing what he saw after he order the firing of a torpedo at the Lusitania:
An unusually heavy explosion takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (cloud reaches far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one (boiler or coal or powder?). The superstructure right above the point of impact and the bridge are torn asunder, fire breaks out, and smoke envelops the high bridge. The ship stops immediately and heels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It appears as if the ship were going to capsize very shortly, Great confusion ensues on board; the boats are made clear and some of them are lowered to the water with either stem or stern first and founder immediately. On the port side fewer boats are made clear than on the starboard side on account of the ship's list. The ship blows off [steam]; on the bow the name "Lusitania" becomes visible in golden letters. The funnels were painted black, no flag was set astern. Ship was running twenty knots. Since it seems as if the steamer will keep above water only a short time, we dived to a depth of twenty-four meters and ran out to sea. It would have been impossible for me, anyhow, to fire a second torpedo into this crowd of people struggling to save their lives."
--Schwieger
Precursors & Aftermath of Tragedy
In the U.S., as well as in other countries, anti-German protests and propaganda to join the war became more and more frequent. Propaganda posters utilized the tragedy as inspiration to encourage Americans to sign up for the military and support the idea of the country taking part in the fight. The following are examples of those propaganda posters.
Two Short Videos About the Lusitania
This video describes the event of the destruction of the Lusitania, giving a brief background on the ship, setting the scene of the attack, and explaining how it occurred. It explains what events led up to the attack, and touches on the terrible losses of the day, as well as the worldwide response. It wraps up with the Lusitania’s lasting impression on future warfare.
This video was created with a couple years of the sinking. With the time period being in the early 1900s, this video is one of the very first animations ever made. There are a few pieces of information in the video that are known today to be incorrect (e.i.number of passengers, the cause of the second explosion). One must keep in mind however that this animation of the sinking is relaying the information known to the general public at the time. It is a silent film.