4. On May 7, 1915, the German submarine (U-boat) U-20 torpedoed and sank the
Lusitania, a swift-moving British cruise liner traveling from New York to
Liverpool, England. Of the 1,959 men, women, and children on board, 1,195
perished, including 123 Americans.
A headline in the New York Times the following day—”Divergent Views of the
Sinking of The Lusitania”—sums up the initial public response to the disaster.
Some saw it as a blatant act of evil and transgression against the conventions
of war. Others understood that Germany previously had unambiguously alerted
all neutral passengers of Atlantic vessels to the potential for submarine attacks
on British ships and that Germany considered the Lusitania a British, and
therefore an “enemy ship.”
The sinking of the Lusitania was not the single largest factor contributing to the
entrance of the United States into the war two years later, but it certainly
solidified the public’s opinions towards Germany. President Woodrow Wilson,
who guided the U.S. through its isolationist foreign policy, held his position of
neutrality for almost two more years. Many, though, consider the sinking a
turning point—technologically, ideologically, and strategically—in the history of
modern warfare, signaling the end of the “gentlemanly” war practices of the
nineteenth century and the beginning of a more ominous and vicious era of total
warfare.
5. Circa 1914: The Cunard Liner 'The Lusitania'. Torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland 'The Lusitania' sank with a large loss of life. Amongst the casualties
were many American citizens. A factor that proved significant in triggering the involvement of the United States in World War I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
6. The Cunard liner Lusitania, one of only 14 four-stackers ever built steaming into New York harbor. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
13. circa 1909: The dining room aboard the British SS 'Lusitania.' (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
14. Saloon passengers enjoy a game of shuffleboard on the deck of the Cunard liner Lusitania. Circa 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
15. June 1912: Passengers on the promenade deck of the RMS Lusitania. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
16. Children playing with a skipping rope on the 2nd saloon deck of the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania. Circa 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
17. June 1st , 1912: Rough seas seen from the deck of the Cunard liner 'Lusitania'. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
18. June 1912: Passengers on the second class deck of the RMS Lusitania. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
19. 1910: The magnificent First Class Dining Saloon of the Cunard steamship Lusitania. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
20. 4th September 1909: The dining car of the Lusitania's boat train, at Fishguard. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
21. Passengers relax in deck chairs on the saloon deck of the Cunard liner Lusitania, June 1912. The ship was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. (Photo by Topical Press
Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
22. Three children playing deck quoits on board the Cunard liner Lusitania, June 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
23. Passengers relax in deck chairs on the saloon deck of the Cunard liner Lusitania, June 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
31. Lusitania arriving in N.Y. for first time, Sept. 13, 1907: starboard view; crowd at dock; people waving from ship. Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952, photographer. Library
of Congress
32. While many British passenger ships had been called into
duty for the war effort, Lusitania remained on her traditional
route between Liverpool and New York. She departed Pier
54 in New York on 1 May 1915 on her return trip to
Liverpool. The German Embassy in Washington had issued
this warning on 22 April 1915.
NOTICE!
TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage
are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany
and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone
of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that,
in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial
German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great
Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those
waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the
ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY
Washington, D.C. 22 April 1915
33. May 7th, 1915: The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner 'Lusitania' by a German submarine off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
34. May, 7th 1915: Illustration of the sinking of the Cunard ocean liner 'Lusitania' by a German submarine off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty
Images)
35. May 7, 1915: A torpedo fired by the German submarine SMS U-20 streaks toward the Lusitania. No photographs exist of the sinking, only this series of portraits by Ken
Marschall give us a look at the events of that tragic day.
37. This portrait by Ken Marschall shows Lusitania beginning her final plunge into the deep.
38. May 15, 1915: Captain William Turner
(1856 - 1933), commander of he British
passenger liner Lusitania, which had been
sunk a week earlier by a German
submarine with the loss of 1,198 lives.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
39. May 7th 1915: The British passenger liner 'Lusitania' sinking off the southern coast of Ireland after a German torpedo attack, with the loss of 1,198 lives on the 7th May. The
drawing uses material supplied by survivors. Original Publication: The Graphic - A Crime That Has Staggered Humanity: The Torpedoing Of The Lusitania - pub. 15th March
1915 Original Artwork: Drawn by Charles Dixon (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
40. May 8th 1915: Front page of the New York
Herald newspaper carrying the news of the
sinking of the British liner the 'Lusitania' by a
German submarine on the 7th May 1915.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
42. May 1915: Survivors of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
43. May 1915: Survivors from the 'Lusitania', which was hit by a U-boat torpedo, standing outside the town hall in Cobh, County Cork. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty
44. May 1915: A survivor of the Cunard passenger liner, the Lusitania, that was sunk by a German U-boat off the South Coast of Ireland near Kinsale. (Photo by Topical Press
Agency/Getty Images)
45. May 1915: The coffins of victims of the Lusitania disaster outside the offices of the Cunard Company. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
46. May 1915: Funeral cortege in Queenstown of the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
47. May 1915: A crowd of British sailors join the funeral procession in Eire for the victims of the sunken Lusitania. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
48. May 1915: The funeral procession of several victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
49. May 1915: In an old churchyard in Queenstown, Ireland soldiers dig graves for the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
50. May 1915: A graveside service for the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
51. Servicemen attend the mass funeral in Cobh, County Cork of the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
52. A vivid British Army recruiting poster created shortly after the attack. The
outrage of Allied and neutral nations intensified in the months after the
attack when it became known the Germans had created a commemorative
medal honoring the feat. The Germans also issued blunt press statements
denying guilt while pinning the blame on the ship's British owners for
sailing into a war zone around the British Isles--citing an advertisement that
had been placed in the New York Times warning of potential attacks
against British ships. However, the denials and explanations failed to sway
public opinion in light of the heavy death toll. After the war, during his only
press interview, the Kaiser himself admitted his regret over the Lusitania
sinking.
54. At 700m range Kapitan-Leutnant Walther Schwieger he ordered one
gyroscopic torpedo to be fired, set to run at a depth of three metres, which
was fired at 14:10.
In Schwieger's own words, recorded in the log of U-20:
"Torpedo hits starboard side right behind the bridge. An unusually heavy
detonation takes place with a very strong explosive cloud. The explosion of
the torpedo must have been followed by a second one [boiler or coal or
powder?]... The ship stops immediately and heels over to starboard very
quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow... the name Lusitania
becomes visible in golden letters."
The U-20's torpedo officer, Raimund Weisbach, viewed the destruction
through the vessel's periscope and felt the explosion was unusually severe.
Within six minutes, Lusitania's forecastle began to submerge.
55. On board the Lusitania, Leslie Morton, an eighteen-year-old lookout at the
bow, had spotted thin lines of foam racing toward the ship. He shouted
"Torpedoes coming on the starboard side!" through a megaphone, thinking
the bubbles came from two projectiles. The torpedo struck Lusitania under
the bridge, sending a plume of debris, steel plating and water upward and
knocking lifeboat number five off its davits. "It sounded like a million-ton
hammer hitting a steam boiler a hundred feet high," one passenger said. A
second, more powerful explosion followed, sending a geyser of water, coal,
dust, and debris high above the deck.
Schwieger's log entries attest that he only launched one torpedo. Some
doubt the validity of this claim, contending that the German government
subsequently altered the published fair copy of Schwieger's, but accounts
from other U-20 crew members corroborate it.
56. Captain William Thomas Turner gave the order to abandon ship.
Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes, 11.5 miles (19 km) off the Old Head of
Kinsale. It took several hours for help to arrive from the Irish coast, but by the
time help had arrived, many in the 52°F (11.1°C) water had succumbed to the
cold. By the days' end, 764 passengers and crew from the Lusitania had been
rescued and landed at Queenstown. Eventually, the final death toll for the
disaster came to a catastrophic number. Of the 1,959 passengers and crew
aboard the Lusitania at the time of her sinking, 1,195 had been lost.
In all, only 289 bodies were recovered, 65 of which were never identified. The
bodies of the remaining 885 victims were never recovered
57. May 1914 U-Boats at Kiel, Germany. SMS U-20 is second from left.
58. SMS U-20 grounded on Jutland, Denmark on November 4, 1916. Several attempts to free the boat were unsuccessful so the crew set scuttling charges and blew up the boat
the next day. This photo shows the bow having been blown off the boat.
60. It was a British ship, sunk by a German submarine, in Irish waters. More than 95
years later, the death toll of the great passenger liner, RMS Lusitania, still
staggers—1,198 men, women, children … all civilians, all innocent. And even
though fewer than 10% of the victims were U.S. citizens, this was a seminal
moment for the United States, as crucial to the country’s historical destiny as
Pearl Harbor and 9/11. It can be convincingly argued that the sinking of the
Lusitania ultimately brought it into World War One and put the United States on
the path to superpower status.
61. Yet, for all its importance, the fate of the Lusitania remains mired in
controversy. Now, an American businessman named Gregg Bemis is
launching a new expedition to explore the ship’s wreckage. His goal—to
answer some of the questions that have sparked decades of intense debate
and controversy. What was the cause of a massive second explosion that
rocked the Lusitania, seconds after the torpedo hit? Was the ship carrying a
secret cache of war munitions, making it a legitimate target? Or had
Germany committed an unprecedented act of mass terrorism?
62. Answering these questions will be an massive undertaking, requiring the
latest in undersea technology. The wreckage lies in 300 feet of water, a
depth that tests the limits of even the most skilled technical divers. Thus, the
exploration will depend on a two-man submersible and a one atmospheric
deep water diving rig known as a Newt Suit. Using a high-pressure water jet
technique, the expedition team plans to gain entry to the ship’s hull, by
cutting a 2‘ x 2‘ hole in the outer skin of the vessel. The use of pole cameras
and a small, camera-equipped ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) known as
the Video Ray will allow for an unprecedented exploration of the interior of
the Lusitania, an area that has not been accessed since the day the ship
went down.
63. The Newtsuit enters the waters near the sunken Lusitanina.Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
64. Newtsuit Pilot Jonathan Feather preps for dive. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
65. Preparing for Submersion. The deck of the Granuaile. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
66. The crew prepare to send down a submersible to investigate the wreck.
67. Dressing For the Dive. Gregg Bemis dresses for sub. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
68. Expedition Ship. The service platform ship, The Granuaile, used for the expedition. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
69. Salvaging the Wreck. Lar Dunne, Marine Archeologist & Eoin McGarry, Lead Tech Diver, examine salvage from the Lusitania wreck. Photograph by National Geographic
Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
72. Sea Bottom Search. Jeff Heatopn in Nuytco Dual Worker at the sea bottom. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions
73. Sea Floor Excursion. Nuytco Dual Worker heads to the sea floor. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions
74. Finding a Porthole. A salvaged porthole from the Lusitania wreckage. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach
75. Sunken Bullets. Bullets in the hull of the Lusitania. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions
76. Sunken Lusitania. 11 miles off the coast of Kinsale in the Irish sea, the Lusitania sunken wreckage. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences
Productions
77. Lusitania Wreckage. A Newtsuit at sea floor examining the Lusitania wreckage. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions
78. Underwater Finds. A Newtsuit at sea floor examining the Lusitania wreckage.Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions
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cast First World War Centenary: ‘The Lusitania’
images credit www.
Music Yanni
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