The Sheer size and total splendor of the Lusitania would enthrall every passenger. Dining accommodations for the first-class passengers offered the elegance of Edwardian style grandeur that featured a fantastic plasterwork dome of magnificent proportions that was thirty feet above the floor.

Regal suites were also available to the wealthy, they consisted of double bedroom with parlor, bathroom and separate dining areas this was at a cost of $400 one way, which was a fantastic sum in 1915.

A rare old photo shows Lusitania, berthed at Liverpool docks, circa 1909

Accommodation and travel for second-class passengers was similar to that of first-class in most other ships of the day. And third-class passengers had never before experienced the luxury that the Lusitania had to offer them also.

_________________________________________________________

In Times Of War

The British government had for the most part financed the construction of the Lusitania with an understanding that the Admiralty could requisition her in times of war.  Indeed at the onset of Word War I in August 1914 the Lusitania and her sister ship the Mauretania along with the Aquitania were requisitioned for service to King and country.

The Lusitania did not receive official orders for specific war duties so was allowed to continue as a passenger liner.

RMS Lusitania left New York on May 1 1915. She was heading for Queenstown, Ireland and un-beknown to anyone it was to be her last voyage. On board her were traveling a number of Americans two of which were the Wealthy Alfred Vanderbilt and a noted theatre producer Charles Frohman.

The German Embassy at the time  had issued a warning to all British ships that they were liable to come under attack as a state of war existed between the two countries. History teaches us that few if any passengers aboard the Lusitania took any heed of this at all. 

Despite the warning posted by the German Embassy, the Lusitania's Captain was not nervous. When Captain William Turner was asked about the U-boat threat he reportedly laughed, remarking that "By the look of the pier and the passenger list," the Germans had not scared away many people.

_________________________________________________________

The Sinking Of The Lusitania

In 1915 it could be reasonable to say that the First World War was well under way , on land, in the air and just as importantly at sea. On May 1915 German U-Boat, U-20 commanded by Kptlt. Walther Schwieger was patrolling an area off the Coast of Southern Ireland, the Irish Sea in fact. U-20 was destined originally to go to Liverpool to look for enemy ships but as she was low on fuel the Irish Sea was good enough.

U-20 had already torpedoed and successfully sank 3 enemy ships on this mission, they were the 132-ton schooner 'The Earl Of Lathom', the 16,000 ton 'The Candidate' and 'The Centurion'. The Commander of U-20 was an expert at submarine warfare and his track record of having over 100,000 tons of enemy ships sunk accredited to him proved it.

It was on May 7th,  that the Hunter killer German  submarine U-20 was patrolling the area when she spotted the Lusitania. The ship was only traveling at 21 knots because she had one of her boiler rooms shut down to conserve fuel. The passengers aboard the ship were just finishing lunch, the ship was 10 to 15 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. The weather was fine and clear, the sea smooth

To a U-Boat Commander the sight of this huge Ocean Liner must have been simply irresistible and to "bag" such a large enemy vessel would bolster his reputation to new heights within the U-Boat Flotilla.

Commander Schwieger lined up his U-Boat to get a good angle on the Lusitania's bow for the attack and silently moved in to position. When the Lusitania was in firing range Commander Schwieger  ordered a torpedo to be fired.  Schwieger had positioned his U-Boat correctly, the torpedo had a direct hit on the Lusitania's port side.

Kptlt. Walther Schwieger  (1885 - 1917)

On board the Lusitania  Captain William Turner  heard the second officer shout " There is a torpedo coming, Sir ". There was absolutely no time at all to alter course to go into an evasive maneuver to avoid the torpedoes deadly impact. The Lusitania was " dead in the water ".

There was a terrific explosion on the starboard side as the torpedo impacted, between the third and fourth funnels. Almost simultaneously there was a second explosion, which was thought at the time to be a second torpedo but has since been confirmed as an internal explosion, although the cause has never been definitely established.

A torpedo impact on a ship, any ship in fact, causes colossal damage to it. All torpedoes are designed to impact about 10 to 12 feet below the water line, they can of course be manually set to any depth but for an Ocean Liner it would be about 12 feet depth impact setting.

Normally the hole that is made by such an explosion when a torpedo impacts is in the region of 15x15 feet across in many cases its even larger. Some torpedo impacts can actually blow a ship in half as the hydrostatic shockwave buffers the explosion 100 fold. The water takes advantage of the huge cavity and needs no persuasion to rush in, especially under pressure of the ships displacement.

15 minutes after Kptlt. Schwieger had  fired his torpedo, he was so completely intrigued by the devastating effect of his attack, that he noted in his war diary:

"It looks as if the ship will stay afloat only for a very short time ?. I gave order to dive to 25 meters and leave the area seawards. I couldn't have fired another torpedo into this mass of humans desperately trying to save themselves".

The stricken Lusitania immediately took on a heavy list to starboard as thousands of gallons of sea water rushed into her bulk heads pulling her down even deeper into the sea as the weight of the water increased and in just under 20 minutes it had completely sunk, with the loss of 1,198 lives, 123 of them incidentally were American. The ship sank bow first, with its stern almost perpendicular out of the water, just as the Titanic had done some 3 years earlier.

Panic broke out and the order to man the life-boats was given in time honored tradition of women and children first and largely this was obeyed. In the utter confusion and fear stricken rush many of the life-boats crashed and up-ended into the cold sea. Because the ship was sinking so fast time was not on their side and only 764 out of the 1,959 managed to get clear.

Some stories of heroism did emerge from this tragedy, there was one story in particular that was noted. It concerns Able Seaman Leslie Morton and Able Seaman Joseph Parry  Quote:

 "On the 7th May 1915 the steamship Lusitania, of Liverpool, was torpedoed off the Old Head of Kinsale and foundered. Morton was the first to observe the approach of the torpedoes, and he reported them to the bridge.

When the torpedoes struck the ship he was knocked off his feet, but he recovered himself quickly, and at once assisted in filling and lowering several boats. Having done all he could on board, he jumped overboard. While in the water he managed to get hold of a floating collapsible lifeboat and, with the assistance of Parry, he ripped the canvas cover off it and succeeded in drawing into it 50 or 60 passengers.

Morton and Parry then rowed the boat some miles to a fishing smack. Having put the rescued passengers on board the smack they returned to the scene of the wreck and succeeded in rescuing 20 to 30 more people"

Leslie Morton and Joseph Parry were awarded the silver and bronze medals for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea.

_________________________________________________________

The Secondary Explosion

There has been much conjecture to what actually blew up in the second explosion, but one source stipulates that it may have been coal dust in the air of the boiler room. Coal dust  of course has been proven to be extremely volatile.

The British government had always maintained that they had no weapons, troops or ammunition onboard the Lusitania. However, official records and manifesto's later showed that when RMS. Lusitania left for England on 1 May 1915 her cargo included the following items : 51 tons of 3-inch canon shells, 6,000,000 .303 caliber rifle bullets, and an unspecified amount of Gun-cotton. Gun-cotton incidentally is a material that explodes when it comes into contact with water !

In addition to this it also collected 200 tons of  ammunition from the Queen Margaret liner that was under repair at that time.

_________________________________________________________

Outrage

America did not declare war on Germany over this incident, but the sinking of the Lusitania certainly contributed to the feelings of animosity toward Germany by the American public as it was seen as a total outrage and cowardly act.

Posters soon appeared after the sinking requesting that people should join the armed services and prepare to avenge those that died. A call to arms against the German Empire was rife amongst the populace and the feelings of hatred for Germany ran high.

The sinking of the Lusitania was a great tragedy and it reminded the world of the Titanic that sank three years earlier ( under different circumstances ) and it was said that the circumstances that sank the Lusitania need not have happened and were total avoidable.

_________________________________________________________

The Wreck Of The Lusitania

The Lusitania, once the pride of the Cunard Line, lies in 295 feet of water off the Irish coast. She lies on her starboard side, a rusty pile of scrap only her bows are in some form of recognizable shape.

Deteriorating rapidly, now being only half of her original beam, with the superstructure slowly sliding onto the ocean floor, and her funnels completely rusted away.

And there she will remain until over the passage of time she will disappear completely, leaving nothing but a memory of a ship called The Lusitania.

The Lusitania as she is today.   Illustrated by Ken Marschall

_________________________________________________________

The U-Boat Commander and U-20

On November 5th 1916, U-20 ran aground off the Danish coast during bad weather and fog, she was trying to help another U-boat that had similar problems.

The U-20 was stuck and could not be moved so Schwieger had the U-Boat destroyed ( scuttled ) by detonating one of its own torpedoes to stop the boat from being captured.

Photo from the Library of Congress. Particularly the George Bain collection.

The wreck as pictured above remained in situ for a few years until the Danish Government decided to have it removed as it may have caused a shipping and biological hazard. The wreck is now a static display very close to where she was stranded and is open to the public for viewing. 

The ships bell off U20 was removed from the wreck and  returned to Germany by the Danish Government in 1976

Walther Schwieger went on to become one of Germany's top WWI U-boat aces, and he received his country's highest decoration "Pour Le Merite--The Blue Max" for having destroyed 190,000 tons of Allied shipping. He also held Iron Cross 2nd class, Iron Cross 1st Class.

The Lusitania, incidentally, was never mentioned in his citation. About five weeks after receiving his decoration,  Schwieger took a new command of U-88 and embarked on what proved to be his last patrol.

Schwieger and the entire crew were killed in action on September 5th 1917 when the submerged U-88 ran into a submerged British laid mine off the Frisian island of Terschelling in the North Sea. The resulting explosion blew up U-88 and she sank immediately.

Walther Scwieger was nearly 33 years of age when he lost his life in U-88. He was one of Germanys top U-Boat commanders ranking 6th highest and being accredited with the title of "U-Boat ACE "

In May of 1918, Germany named the new U-Boat U139, "Der Kapitan-Leutnant Schwieger" in honour of his memory.

_______________________________________________________

Memorial to the passengers of the Lusitania.

1915-2005

90 years ago and we remember them.

The above photo depicts one of the Lusitania's propellers. It is situated at the Albert Dock in Liverpool, United Kingdom next to the actual old Cunnard building. The Merseyside Maritime Museum is also within a stones throw of the memorial.

The prop weighs in at 23 tons and is one of four that was on the Lusitania. It was salvaged from the Lusitania wreck in 1982. The propeller will now serve as a lasting memorial to the 1,201 lives that were lost.

UPDATE

Licensed divers from Cork Sub Aqua Club recently explored the Lusitania wreck with submersible's and other diving equipment and they discovered 15,000 rounds of .303 rifle and Vickers machine gun ammunition in the bow section of the wreck.

  It can now be stated without any doubt that the Lusitania was indeed carrying munitions and the U-boat commander Kptlt. Walther Schwieger was well within his rights and military jurisdiction to have attacked and sunk the ship.

It could also then be assessed that in conjunction to the ammunition that the Lusitania was carrying, that explosives would also have been aboard, and that it is these explosives that created the huge secondary explosion that ripped a huge hole in her and consequently allowed the ship to sink so rapidly to the bottom of the Irish sea.