[Cohaagen]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Hey, i just could not let this stand

Yeah, I feel the same way when reading posts like yours above. Those poor Germans - always getting stabbed in the back!

It's a bit of a amateur masterpiece of that school, actually. Nevertheless, since someone (sadly) seems to have swallowed it whole the more ridiculous points need to be addressed.

it was camouflage-painted grey

All those photographs showing her leaving New York in black/white/red livery must be forgeries by the dastardly Britishers! They are experten at this, you know.

Following a zigzag course (which was not allowed for neutral and hospital ships)

Leaving aside the fact that Lusitania wasn't either neutral or a hospital ship this is, for obvious reasons, not true.

the british admiralty not warning the captain of the L., in spite of knowing the exact position of the U-boat being in the L's direct path which then sunk her

Really? How did they know the "exact position" - satellite photos?

The US were on the brink of declaring war to England

I am speechless. It was just as well then that the nefarious Admiralty plot to sink the Lusitania came off without a hitch, causing America to immediately declare war on Germany two years later.

When the one german trade U-boat rendered the blockade useless

Indeed, the Deutschland seems to have been so successful that the Germans converted her to a standard U-boat after just two trips. And unless her captain was Jesus Christ, I think it unlikely that he performed a feeding of the 80 million with several hundred tons of metals and synthetic rubber.

it had been a trick by the company for getting money from the government to build it

Not another Tommy trick!

Well, no. It was, in truth, common knowledge that the government had paid costs towards the Lusitania's building after specifying certain aspects of her design. It's called a subsidy.

Some of the US passengers even complained that the L. obviously carried troops and war material, thus threatening their lives.

Why would Britain be shipping troops from the USA to Britain? Did the perfidious Englanders have a secret garrison in New York as well?

German hospital ships anchored before Kiel and other coastal cities were sunk in the baltic sea, by british "submarines"

Atrocities so foul they have never been mentioned in any WWI history book ever. They do mention, however, the nearly dozen British, Australian and Canadian hospital ships sunk by Germany in that war.

Oh, the RAF did later brass up an unlit Nazi hospital ship as a result of incompetence and trigger-happiness. Which, as Doenitz handily pointed out at his trial, meant Germany was fully justified in retaliating by sinking of British hospital ships before the incident even happened - there's no service like self-service...

Kaiser William 2nd failed to communicate this clearly to the US against british propaganda, because he feared the reaction of the german population, being angry about the british declaration of war (why had they?)

I dunno, Bill, maybe it was something to do with invading Belgium?

(Germany was dependent on sea trade as much as England was)

There are strong geographical reasons why an island nation is rather more dependent on sea trade than a largely land-locked one.

Last edited by Catfish; 05-17-2010 at 10:16 AM. Reason: typoes

I think a better reason for editing would be fabulism, poor taste, and some very dodgy conspiracy theory logic.

By the way: rifle ammunition does not explode, regardless of quantity, a fact that has been proven many many times, not least during an inquiry into the very suspicious death of Dag Hammerskjold - a matter, unlike this, where "alternative" theories may have some factual authority. Even if a round of ammunition cooks off it is incapable of even penetrating a layer of heavy cloth. As for the fabled explosives Lusitania was supposed to be carrying, the actual evidence to support the idea - that is to say, none - puts that one firmly with Hitler in Brazil and Elvis working in the chip shop.