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The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of World War I. Having completed her voyage to New York on 24 April, the Lusitania left the Cunard berth at Pier 54 just after midday on 1 May 1915 on the return voyage to Liverpool. When RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain, German submarine warfare was intensifying in the Atlantic. Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom a war zone, and the German embassy in the United States had placed a newspaper advertisement warning people of the dangers of sailing on Lusitania.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7 May the German U-boat U-20, captained by Kapitaenleutnant Walther Schwieger torpedoed Lusitania, 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared war zone. A second, unexplained, internal explosion sent her to the seabed in 18 minutes, with the deaths of 1,198 passengers, including almost a hundred children, and crew.
Because the Germans sank, without warning, what was officially a non-military ship, many accused them of breaching the internationally recognised Cruiser Rules. It was no longer possible for submarines to give warning due to the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns. (Lusitania had been fitted with 6-inch gun mounts in 1913, although she was unarmed at the time of her sinking.) [Wikipedia] |
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