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Catfish · 01-05-09, 05:56 PM

Hello,
there is a lot of material on the "Lusitania" and its sinking.
I will post some of it tomorrow if anyone is interested, but some things are sure: The British admiralty seems to have led the Lusitania on a path along the assumed position of the U-boat that then sunk her - the position was known due to the british code break early in the war - honi soit qui mal y pense, but England needed the then still neutral USA for support and was eager to provoke an event to further discriminate Germany, and turn the US public tide against Germany - hard to believe, but the now opened archives are quite precise in that matter. US President Wilson was indeed even inclined to join Germany against England at that time because of the british blockade, that had caused 750.000 german civilian casualties alone in the winter of 1915, and had violated international public law.
From its official papers the Lusitania was an auxiliary cruiser, with cannons mounted, painted in camouflage and without flying a flag. There was also ammunition on board, if only for smaller arms or so it seems.
The german embassy had even printed an article in the US newspapers warning passengers to use this very ship, because it might be sunk.
Despite all this propaganda from all sides the actual sinking was an accident, a mistake. The U20 skipper mistook the Lusitania for another ship.

Greetings,
Catfish

01-05-09, 05:56 PM	#4
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 16,897 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Hello, there is a lot of material on the "Lusitania" and its sinking. I will post some of it tomorrow if anyone is interested, but some things are sure: The British admiralty seems to have led the Lusitania on a path along the assumed position of the U-boat that then sunk her - the position was known due to the british code break early in the war - honi soit qui mal y pense, but England needed the then still neutral USA for support and was eager to provoke an event to further discriminate Germany, and turn the US public tide against Germany - hard to believe, but the now opened archives are quite precise in that matter. US President Wilson was indeed even inclined to join Germany against England at that time because of the british blockade, that had caused 750.000 german civilian casualties alone in the winter of 1915, and had violated international public law. From its official papers the Lusitania was an auxiliary cruiser, with cannons mounted, painted in camouflage and without flying a flag. There was also ammunition on board, if only for smaller arms or so it seems. The german embassy had even printed an article in the US newspapers warning passengers to use this very ship, because it might be sunk. Despite all this propaganda from all sides the actual sinking was an accident, a mistake. The U20 skipper mistook the Lusitania for another ship. Greetings, Catfish Last edited by Catfish; 01-06-09 at 06:19 AM.