Lusitania & Other ships

shamuboy1 · 05-15-10, 08:51 PM

On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans. The attack aroused considerable indignation in the United States, but Germany defended the action, noting that it had issued warnings of its intent to attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain.

When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners, and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted quarantine of the British isles. Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Britain.

In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel's course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored these recommendations, and at 2:12 p.m. on May 7 the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship's boilers, and the ship sunk in 20 minutes.

It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States eventually sent three notes to Berlin protesting the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. In November, however, a U-boat sunk an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.

On January 31, 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced that it would resume unrestricted warfare in war-zone waters. Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. In late March, Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships, and on April 2 President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted to declare war against Germany, and two days later the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration. With that, America entered World War I.

U-20; http://www.maritimequest.com/warship...ms_u_20_01.jpg

Lusitania: http://symonsez.files.wordpress.com/...sitania201.jpg

Also, if you would like, post other passenger ships that were sunk during World War 1 and World War 2 due to the acts of U-Boats and other submarines.

and another thing, is this isn't in the right forum, could you please move it? Thanks.

Stealth Hunter · 05-16-10, 12:55 PM

I like the concept of this... but do we have to stick just to passenger liners? I'd love doing a summarization of my own on ships that participated in and were sunk during the Battle of Jutland, which has it's 94th anniversary coming up this May 31st-June 1st.

shamuboy1 · 05-16-10, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

I like the concept of this... but do we have to stick just to passenger liners? I'd love doing a summarization of my own on ships that participated in and were sunk during the Battle of Jutland, which has it's 94th anniversary coming up this May 31st-June 1st.

No we don't have to, feel free to post a Cargo Ship, War-Ship, Hospital Ship, whatever! Go right ahead!

Catfish · 05-17-10, 03:29 AM

Hello
yes, the Lusitania was torpedoed "without warning", as it did not use the corridor for passenger ships, it was camouflage-painted grey (the paintings of the sinking Lusitania picturing a black, white and yellow ocean liner are propagada, again) and had ammunition and troops aboard. Following a zigzag course (which was not allowed for neutral and hospital ships), it was misidentified as a troop ship, and sunk. Only its last zag brought the L. before the tubes of the U-boat, which would have stood no chance against a ship running at 20+ knots.
News from the long-closed british admiralty archives make it seem possible that Churchill had intended to use the "Lusitania" to lure the US into war at England's side, in 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.

The US were on the brink of declaring war to England, due to the US had "guaranteed free seas for all" in the early war, and Wilson was furious about the british blockade, and the famine in Germany. Remember there were a lot of germans and people of german ancestry, in the US. When the one german trade U-boat rendered the blockade useless, there was an outcry in England in that the US should be forbidden to trade with Germany.

As you rightly said passengers were warned in US newspapers to board the "Lusitania" because of its well-known "secret" of being an auxiliary cruiser run by the british navy by its original papers (it had been a trick by the company for getting money from the government to build it, but at that time this could only be known in the inner circles - to all else and Lloyd's the L. was a military ship, and certainly used as such). Some of the US passengers even complained that the L. obviously carried troops and war material, thus threatening their lives.

British freighters, tankers of all kinds and hospital ships were often (ab)used as being "neutral" in wrongly running false flags during WW1, even using hospital ships as ammunition and troop transports, in the mediterranean.
German hospital ships anchored before Kiel and other coastal cities were sunk in the baltic sea, by british "submarines", no reluctance here but seldomly mentioned. (According to Churchill the good ones were the "submarines", while the bad buddies were to be called "U-boats"). The propaganda war is indeed one of the less "heroic" efforts, of WW1.

The "unrestricted" U-boat war of Germany was "unrestricted" only for a few months (b.t.w. an unrestricted war, be it U-boats/submarines or surface units, was led by England right from the beginning).
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?). After the famine in the hunger winter killing 750.000 civilians due to the british blockade (Germany was dependent on sea trade as much as England was), the population expected an unrestricted war against the agressor as they saw it, which was not led (!); but telling this officially would have isolated William 2nd even more, for being too pro-british.

Even during the two months of unrestricted U-boat war by Germany, most ships were still hailed and stopped, since most U-boat commanders refused to sink ships without warning, according to international treaties - even if they were not being followed by England. The almost only exception were the smaller boats of the Flanders flotilla with its tiny coastal boats, not being fast enough to chase even the slowest freighters - a hailed and warned ship ordered to stop, would just open up steam and run away.

The thing is, german U-boats sunk more ships in a month, that they did in the two of the "unrestricted" war.

So if you talk about the "Lusitania" and repeat the propaganda of the time, you might as well mention the "King Stephen" with the L-19 airship, and the Q-ship "Baralong" incident.

Greetings,
Catfish

SteamWake · 05-17-10, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catfish

So if you talk about the "Lusitania" and repeat the propaganda of the time,

Wow hey now who dident see this comming

Catfish · 05-17-10, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Wow hey now who dident see this comming

Hey, i just could not let this stand uncommented

Greetings,
Catfish

05-15-10, 08:51 PM	#1
shamuboy1 Seaman Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 36 Downloads: 84 Uploads: 0	Lusitania & Other ships On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans. The attack aroused considerable indignation in the United States, but Germany defended the action, noting that it had issued warnings of its intent to attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners, and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted quarantine of the British isles. Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Britain. In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel's course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored these recommendations, and at 2:12 p.m. on May 7 the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship's boilers, and the ship sunk in 20 minutes. It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States eventually sent three notes to Berlin protesting the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. In November, however, a U-boat sunk an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany. On January 31, 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced that it would resume unrestricted warfare in war-zone waters. Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. In late March, Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships, and on April 2 President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted to declare war against Germany, and two days later the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration. With that, America entered World War I. U-20; http://www.maritimequest.com/warship...ms_u_20_01.jpg Lusitania: http://symonsez.files.wordpress.com/...sitania201.jpg Also, if you would like, post other passenger ships that were sunk during World War 1 and World War 2 due to the acts of U-Boats and other submarines. and another thing, is this isn't in the right forum, could you please move it? Thanks.

05-17-10, 03:29 AM	#4
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,766 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Hello yes, the Lusitania was torpedoed "without warning", as it did not use the corridor for passenger ships, it was camouflage-painted grey (the paintings of the sinking Lusitania picturing a black, white and yellow ocean liner are propagada, again) and had ammunition and troops aboard. Following a zigzag course (which was not allowed for neutral and hospital ships), it was misidentified as a troop ship, and sunk. Only its last zag brought the L. before the tubes of the U-boat, which would have stood no chance against a ship running at 20+ knots. News from the long-closed british admiralty archives make it seem possible that Churchill had intended to use the "Lusitania" to lure the US into war at England's side, in 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. The US were on the brink of declaring war to England, due to the US had "guaranteed free seas for all" in the early war, and Wilson was furious about the british blockade, and the famine in Germany. Remember there were a lot of germans and people of german ancestry, in the US. When the one german trade U-boat rendered the blockade useless, there was an outcry in England in that the US should be forbidden to trade with Germany. As you rightly said passengers were warned in US newspapers to board the "Lusitania" because of its well-known "secret" of being an auxiliary cruiser run by the british navy by its original papers (it had been a trick by the company for getting money from the government to build it, but at that time this could only be known in the inner circles - to all else and Lloyd's the L. was a military ship, and certainly used as such). Some of the US passengers even complained that the L. obviously carried troops and war material, thus threatening their lives. British freighters, tankers of all kinds and hospital ships were often (ab)used as being "neutral" in wrongly running false flags during WW1, even using hospital ships as ammunition and troop transports, in the mediterranean. German hospital ships anchored before Kiel and other coastal cities were sunk in the baltic sea, by british "submarines", no reluctance here but seldomly mentioned. (According to Churchill the good ones were the "submarines", while the bad buddies were to be called "U-boats"). The propaganda war is indeed one of the less "heroic" efforts, of WW1. The "unrestricted" U-boat war of Germany was "unrestricted" only for a few months (b.t.w. an unrestricted war, be it U-boats/submarines or surface units, was led by England right from the beginning). 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?). After the famine in the hunger winter killing 750.000 civilians due to the british blockade (Germany was dependent on sea trade as much as England was), the population expected an unrestricted war against the agressor as they saw it, which was not led (!); but telling this officially would have isolated William 2nd even more, for being too pro-british. Even during the two months of unrestricted U-boat war by Germany, most ships were still hailed and stopped, since most U-boat commanders refused to sink ships without warning, according to international treaties - even if they were not being followed by England. The almost only exception were the smaller boats of the Flanders flotilla with its tiny coastal boats, not being fast enough to chase even the slowest freighters - a hailed and warned ship ordered to stop, would just open up steam and run away. The thing is, german U-boats sunk more ships in a month, that they did in the two of the "unrestricted" war. So if you talk about the "Lusitania" and repeat the propaganda of the time, you might as well mention the "King Stephen" with the L-19 airship, and the Q-ship "Baralong" incident. Greetings, Catfish Last edited by Catfish; 05-17-10 at 04:16 AM. Reason: typoes

05-16-10, 12:55 PM	#2
Stealth Hunter Silent Hunter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Y'ha-Nthlei Posts: 4,262 Downloads: 19 Uploads: 0	I like the concept of this... but do we have to stick just to passenger liners? I'd love doing a summarization of my own on ships that participated in and were sunk during the Battle of Jutland, which has it's 94th anniversary coming up this May 31st-June 1st.