First World War Centenary: ‘The Lusitania’

‘The Lusitania’

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.

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)

The Cunard liner Lusitania, one of only 14 four-stackers ever built steaming into New York harbor. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Under Construction. The Lusitania being built at the John Brown Shipyard.

June 7, 1906: Launch of the Lusitania at John Brown & Company Ltd. Clydebank, Scotland.



September 13, 1907: Lusitania docked at Pier 54 in New York on her maiden voyage.

November 20, 1908: Lusitania arriving at the Cunard Pier at New York.

circa 1909: The dining room aboard the British SS 'Lusitania.' (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Saloon passengers enjoy a game of shuffleboard on the deck of the Cunard liner Lusitania. Circa 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

June 1912: Passengers on the promenade deck of the RMS Lusitania. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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)

June 1st , 1912: Rough seas seen from the deck of the Cunard liner 'Lusitania'. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

June 1912: Passengers on the second class deck of the RMS Lusitania. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

1910: The magnificent First Class Dining Saloon of the Cunard steamship Lusitania. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

4th September 1909: The dining car of the Lusitania's boat train, at Fishguard. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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)

Three children playing deck quoits on board the Cunard liner Lusitania, June 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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)

Lusitania alongside at the Cunard Pier at New York, date unknown.

September 13, 1907: Lusitania arriving in New York on her maiden voyage.

Lusitania at speed off the Old Head of Kinsale in 1911. This photo was taken near the spot where she would be sunk four years later.


Lusitania alongside at the Cunard Pier at New York, date unknown.

Lusitania seen from the Singer building in New York in 1908.


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

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 EMBASSYWashington, D.C. 22 April 1915

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)

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)

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.

Ken Marshall's portrait of the torpedo hitting the Lusitania.

This portrait by Ken Marschall shows Lusitania beginning her final plunge into the deep.

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)

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)

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)

The flag-draped body of an American victim recovered soon after the sinking.

May 1915: Survivors of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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 Images)

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)

May 1915: The coffins of victims of the Lusitania disaster outside the offices of the Cunard Company. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

May 1915: Funeral cortege in Queenstown of the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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)

May 1915: The funeral procession of several victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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)

May 1915: A graveside service for the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Servicemen attend the mass funeral in Cobh, County Cork of the victims of the Lusitania disaster. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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.

SMS U-20, date and location not available.

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.

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.

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

May 1914 U-Boats at Kiel, Germany. SMS U-20 is second from left.

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.

Another view of the wreck of the SMS U-20.

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.

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?

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.

The Newtsuit enters the waters near the sunken Lusitanina.Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

Newtsuit Pilot Jonathan Feather preps for dive. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

Preparing for Submersion. The deck of the Granuaile. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

The crew prepare to send down a submersible to investigate the wreck.

Dressing For the Dive. Gregg Bemis dresses for sub. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

Expedition Ship. The service platform ship, The Granuaile, used for the expedition. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

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

Preparing to dive to the wreck.

Filming on the Granuaile

Sea Bottom Search. Jeff Heatopn in Nuytco Dual Worker at the sea bottom. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions

Sea Floor Excursion. Nuytco Dual Worker heads to the sea floor. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions

Finding a Porthole. A salvaged porthole from the Lusitania wreckage. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions/ Petr Stach

Sunken Bullets. Bullets in the hull of the Lusitania. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions

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

Lusitania Wreckage. A Newtsuit at sea floor examining the Lusitania wreckage. Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions

Underwater Finds. A Newtsuit at sea floor examining the Lusitania wreckage.Photograph by National Geographic Channels/ Creative Differences Productions

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First World War Centenary: ‘The Lusitania’