(1907-1915) A ship contemporary with the Titanic. One of the biggest and fastest ocean liners of her
time, this four-funneled luxury liner was carrying a secret cargo of military supplies for the British in WWI;
Germany, blockaded by the British, newly-equipped with U-boats (which Churchill ordered rammed on site), and aware of this smuggling on the part of the British, warned that any British or
American ship thought to be carrying
war supplies would be liable to attack, regardless of the safety of passengers or
crew. The 1259 passengers and 701
crew who boarded the Lusitania on May 1, 1915, paid little attention, largely unaware of the contraband bullets and shrapnel that the ship carried.
On May 7, as lunchtime ended within sight of Ireland's south coast, the Lusitania was hit by a torpedo from a
German u-
boat, followed by a much bigger secondary explosion (likely a steam-pipe explosion). Listing sharply toward the wound in her starboard side, she sank in only 18 minutes, taking 1195
men, women, and children with her.
123 of the 159 Americans on board were killed, plus 94 of the 129 children on board (including 35 of 39 infants), indirectly goading the United States to enter the war on Britain's side.
The passengers of the Lusitania naively refused to believe that a submarine would attack a passenger ship, let alone one as fast as the Lusitania.
May 7, just 11.5 miles from the
Irish coast, a torpedo rocked the ship. Listing sharply to starboard and continuing at full
speed for two miles, she had lost control. Panic ensued as she plunged under the surface, head-first.
Power was soon lost, trapping many below-decks and a number in the first-class elevators.
The starboard lifeboats swung away from the ship, while the port boats swung inward; although the ship had
48 lifeboats, only six starboard boats would be safely lowered while many others tipped or were lowered on
top of each other. The port boats had to slide down the hull, splintering as they snagged on rivets, while one broke
loose and careened down the boat
deck, crushing passengers who were not already injured on the sloping decks. The maimed littered the
deck and a sea that was choked with floating debris.
While
parents tried to find their children in the frenzy, children squealed for their
parents. Many put on their life-jackets upside-down and backwards in the panic.
In less than twenty minutes, the Lusitania was gone, taking the trapped to the
bottom and leaving several hundred more at the surface to
die of hypothermia.
The Lusitania casualties were tiny compared to the soldiers who died daily at the front, but they got an immediate reaction; not even civilians were safe.
