The Sinking of the Lusitania

© 2008 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College

 

The British ocean liner Lusitania, launched in 1907, was a popular cargo and passenger ship admired for her speed and luxurious accommodations.  The 30,400-ton, 785-foot vessel looked to admiring crowds like "a skyscraper adrift."  The pride of Britain's commercial fleet ("a marvel of speed and luxury"), she crossed the Atlantic peacefully many times over the next several years at an average speed of 23 knots (the first liner to make the crossing in under five days).  Newspapers raved about the speed, strength, and safety of the liner.  But as World War I escalated and German submarines took an increasingly active role enforcing the war zone in the North Atlantic, her situation became precarious. Nonetheless, the Lusitania felt herself unsinkable because of her size and speed.  Moreover, she had been equipped with 12 six-inch guns, giving her a heavier broadside than the Royal Navy cruisers that patrolled the English Channel. The Germans protested against the arming of merchant ships carrying civilian passengers, pointing out that this would force them in turn to abandon the chivalrous "stop-and search" procedures that had been a feature of both British and German patrols.  Up to that time, a submarine would surface, order the vessel to stop, board her, seize any contraband, and allow the crew ample time to take to the boats, before launching a torpedo.  From now on the Germans would have no option but to attack without warning.  The United States government protested the "barbaric" new tactics of German U-boats.  President Woodrow Wilson insisted that "freedom of the seas" and neutral rights be respected.  The German government would be held "strictly accountable" for any violations of international law.  Meanwhile, despite claims of neutrality, it became increasingly evident that American aid to the Allies was the only thing standing between the Germans and victory [see Chronology].

The Lusitania boldly set out from New York on May 1, 1915, with the intent of delivering supplies and passengers to England in spite of threats of sinking by German authorities.  Captain William Thomas Turner was concerned but confident as he headed toward his destination of Queenstown, Southern Ireland.  In an ironic quirk of fate, published directly beside the ad for what would be the last voyage of the Lusitania [at right] was a warning from the German government.  The announcement read:

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 ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk. --Imperial German Embassy

Although the warning did not specifically mention the Lusitania, many passengers who boarded on May 1, 1915, were concerned. The Cunard Company's spokesman at the pier, Charles Sumner, assured anxious passengers that there was no risk whatsoever: "The fact is that the Lusitania is too fast for any submarine.  No German vessel of war can get near her."  Sumner did not mention that the ship would be sailing with one of the ship's four boilers shut down as an economy measure, reducing the top speed from 25 to 21 knots.  He also did not mention that the ship's "general cargo" included 4,200 cases of Remington rifle cartridges, packed 1,000 to a box; 1,250 cases of shrapnel shells and eighteen cases of fuses; plus fifty cases of explosive powder.1

Six days later, on May 7, 1915, Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger of the German Submarine U-20 was patrolling the southern Irish coast.  Through the fog he spotted a smudge of smoke on his starboard bow.  Moving closer, he saw a huge four-stacked ship.  The Lusitania was moving at a snail's pace, a "sitting duck."  That morning, Captain Turner had received a warning that the area was infested with submarines, and he wanted to conserve coal in order to keep enough reserve steam for a quick burst of speed if he spotted one.2  He doubled the lookouts and instructed the engine room to be ready "to give full speed" (but he did not order the boilers in the fourth engine compartment to be fired up).  At 1:00 p.m. Captain Turner mistakenly thought he sighted his mark for landfall and he headed for the Irish coast; then at 1:40 he realized the true location and corrected his error.  He ordered a hard starboard turn, followed by a navigational maneuver that required the ship to hold a straight line at a steady speed for about 40 minutes while he made the necessary calculations.

Just after 2:00 p.m., Schwieger looked through the lens of his periscope and could hardly believe his eyes: his target was just 2,300 feet away.  For nearly an hour he had been watching the Lusitania make its latest maneuvers, waiting for a shot.  "She was coming directly at us.  She could not have steered a more perfect course if she had deliberately tried to give us a dead shot," he wrote in his log-book.  Nevertheless, torpedoes in the early days of the First World War were rather uncertain weapons, and Schwieger would not have been greatly surprised if the giant ship had shrugged off the assault and continued majestically on her way.  He maneuvered the U-boat for a flank shot and fired a single torpedo. Schwieger's log-book entry conveys his astonishment at what happened next:

2.10 pm. Clean bowshot at 700 meters range, angle of intersection 90 degrees, estimated speed 22 knots.  Torpedo hits starboard side right behind the bridge. An unusually heavy detonation takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one (boiler or coal or powder?).  The superstructure 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 quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It appears as if the ship is going to capsize very shortly. Great confusion on board; the boats are made ready and some of them lowered into the water. Apparently considerable panic; some boats, full to capacity, are rushed from above, touch the water with either stem or stern first, and founder immediately. 2.25 pm.  Since it seems as if the steamer can only remain afloat a short while longer, dive to 24 meters and head out to sea.  I could not have launched a second torpedo into that struggling throng of humanity trying to save their lives.

Utter chaos reigned on board the Lusitania from the moment of impact.  Only six out of 48 lifeboats were successfully launched.  The ship sank in just 18 minutes and took with her 1,198 people (including 128 Americans), leaving only 764 to be saved by those who responded to her SOS.  Captain Turner was the last to leave the ship.  One year later Captain Turner lost another ship by torpedo, the Invernia.  He also escaped with his life but fifty soldiers and sailors died.  Schwieger went on destroying Allied shipping and sunk a total of 190,000 tons of cargo.  In September 1917, his submarine struck a mine off the Danish coast and he perished along with his crew.

The sinking of the Lusitania was the single most dramatic incident in the conflict over German submarine warfare in the war [see newspaper].3  Because the Lusitania was never officially in government service, President Wilson believed the attack on her was contrary to international law and "the conventions of all civilized nations."  Yet he urged restraint: "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.... as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right."  Theodore Roosevelt seethed at Wilson's "cowardice and weakness" and demanded action.  Instead,  Wilson sent a firm protest under the name of Secretary of State William J. Bryan, excepts from which appear below.

Department of State, Washington, May 13, 1915 In view of recent acts of the German authorities in violation of American rights on the high seas which culminated in the torpedoing and sinking of the British steamship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, by which over 100 American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and desirable that the Government of the United States and the Imperial German Government should come to a clear and full understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted. Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by the Imperial German Government in matters of international right, and particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having learned to recognize the German views and the German influence in the field of international obligation as always engaged upon the side of justice and humanity; and having understood the instructions of the Imperial German Government to its naval commanders to be upon the same plane of human action prescribed by the naval codes of other nations, the Government of the United States was loath to believe--it cannot now bring itself to believe--that these acts, so absolutely contrary to the rules, the practices, and the spirit of modern warfare, could have the countenance or sanction of that great Government. It feels it to be its duty, therefore, to address the Imperial German Government concerning them with the utmost frankness and in the earnest hope that it is not mistaken in expecting action. . . which will correct the unfortunate impressions which have been created and vindicate once more the position of that Government with regard to the sacred freedom of the seas.  The Government of the United States has been apprised that the Imperial German Government considered themselves to be obliged by the extraordinary circumstances of the present war and the measures adopted by their adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off from all commerce, to adopt methods of retaliation which go much beyond the ordinary methods of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war zone from which they have warned neutral ships to keep away. This Government has already taken occasion to inform the Imperial German Government that it cannot admit the adoption of such measures or such a warning of danger to operate as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights of American shipmasters or of American citizens bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent nationality; and that it must hold the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for any infringement of those rights, intentional or incidental. . . . The Government of the United States, therefore, desires to call the attention of the Imperial German Government with the utmost earnestness to the fact that the objection to their present method of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and humanity, which all modern opinion regards as imperative. . . .

Wilson demanded an apology, reparations, and an immediate end to unrestricted U-boat attacks, but he stopped short of threatening war.  For nearly a year German U-boats attacked, Wilson protested, the attacks were suspended and then resumed, Wilson once again protested, and so on.  Finally after publication of the Zimmermann telegram and renewed U-boat attacks in March 1917, Wilson delivered his declaration of war on April 2, 1917: "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. . . .  It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in, the balance.  But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. . . ." [see Wilson's War Message]   1 The cases of ammunition and fuses were all stamped "non-explosive in bulk."  In monetary terms, over half of the ship's cargo consisted of war material.  In the words of a U.S. Treasury official, "Practically all of her cargo was contraband of some kind." 2 On the night of May 6, Captain Turner attended the traditional passengers' talent show.  During the intermission he announced that there had been a submarine warning; but he assured the passengers that in the morning "we shall be securely in the care of the Royal Navy," and "of course there is no need for alarm." 3 Of the 1,257 registered passengers, 785 (including 128 Americans) had died, as had 413 of the 702-member crew.  Of the 129 children on board, 94 had been killed, including 35 of the 39 babies.  The German press applauded the attack as an "extraordinary success" and praised the superb seamanship of Schwieger and his crew.  While regretting the loss of life, they placed the blame on Cunard for disregarding warnings and carrying munitions on a passenger ship.  Meanwhile, the British and American press raged about the "ghastly, murderous barbarity," and anti-German rioting broke out in many cities.

 
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