World War One

[Jimbuna]

Sinking of the Lusitania

On February 4, 1915, the German government declared the seas around the British Isles to be a war zone and that beginning February 18, Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. As Lusitania was scheduled to reach Liverpool on March 6, the Admiralty provided Captain Daniel Dow with instructions on how to avoid submarines. With the liner approaching, two destroyers were dispatched to escort Lusitania into port. Unsure whether the approaching warships were British or German, Dow eluded them and reached Liverpool on his own.

The following month, Lusitania departed for New York on April 17, with Captain William Thomas Turner in command. The commodore of the Cunard fleet, Turner was an experienced mariner and reached New York on the 24th. During this time, several concerned German-American citizens approached the German embassy in an effort to avoid controversy should the liner be attacked by a u-boat. Taking their concerns to heart, the embassy placed ads in fifty American newspapers on April 22 warning that neutral travelers aboard British-flagged vessels en route to the war zone sailed at their own risk.

Usually printed next to Lusitania's sailing announcement, the German warning caused some agitation in the press and concern among the ship's passengers. Citing that the ship's speed made it nearly invulnerable to attack, Turner and his officers worked to calm those aboard. Sailing on May 1 as scheduled, Lusitania departed Pier 54 and began its return voyage. While the liner was crossing the Atlantic, U-20, commanded by Captain Lieutenant Walther Schwieger, was operating off the west and south coasts of Ireland. Between May 5 and 6, Schwieger sank three merchant vessels.

His activity led the Admiralty, who was tracking his movements via intercepts, to issue submarine warnings for the south coast of Ireland. Turner twice received this message on May 6 and took several precautions including closing watertight doors, swinging out the lifeboats, doubling the lookouts, and blacking out the ship. Trusting the ship's speed, he did not begin following a zi-zag course as recommended by the Admiralty. Upon receiving another warning around 11:00 AM on May 7, he turned northeast towards the coast, incorrectly believing that submarines would likely keep to the open sea.

Possessing only three torpedoes and low on fuel, Schwieger had decided to return to base when a vessel was spotted around 1:00 PM. Diving, U-20 moved to investigate. Encountering fog, Turner slowed to 18 knots as the liner steered for Queenstown (Cosh), Ireland. As Lusitania crossed his bow, Schwieger opened fire at 2:10 PM. His torpedo hit the liner below the bridge on the starboard side. It was quickly followed by a second explosion in the starboard bow. While many theories have been put forward, the second was most likely caused by an internal steam explosion.



Immediately sending an SOS, Turner tried steering the ship towards the coast with the goal of beaching it, but the steering failed to respond. Listing at 15 degrees, the engines pushed the ship forward, driving more water into the hull. Six minutes after the hit, the bow slipped under the water, which along with the increasingly list, severely hampered efforts to launch the lifeboats. As chaos swept the liner's decks, many lifeboats were lost due to the ship's speed or spilled their passengers as they were lowered. Around 2:28, eighteen minutes after the torpedo hit, Lusitania slipped beneath the waves approximately eight miles off the Old Head of Kinsale.





Aftermath:

The sinking claimed the lives of 1,198 of Lusitania's passengers and crew, with only 761 surviving. Among the dead were 128 American citizens. Immediately inciting international outrage, the sinking quickly turned public opinion against Germany and its allies. The German government attempted to justify the sinking by stating that Lusitania was classified as an auxiliary cruiser and was carrying military cargo. They were technically correct on both counts, as Lusitania was under orders to ram u-boats and its cargo included a shipment of bullets, 3-inch shells, and fuses.

Outraged at the death of American citizens, many in the United States called for President Woodrow Wilson to declare war on Germany. While encouraged by the British, Wilson refused and urged restraint. Issuing three diplomatic notes in May, June, and July, Wilson affirmed the rights of US citizens to travel safely at sea and warned that future sinkings would be viewed as "deliberately unfriendly." Following the sinking of the liner SS Arabic in August, American pressure bore fruit as the Germans offered an indemnity and issued orders prohibiting their commanders from surprise attacks on merchant vessels. That September, the Germans halted their campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. Its resumption, along with other provocative acts such as the Zimmermann Telegram, would ultimately pull the United States into the conflict.

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/.../lusitania.htm

[Aktungbby]

Fifteen minutes after he had fired his torpedo, Schwieger noted in his war diary:
"It looks as if the ship will stay afloat only for a very short time. [I gave order to] dive to 25 metres (82 ft) and leave the area seawards. I couldn't have fired another torpedo into this mass of humans desperately trying to save themselves." There was at the time and remains now a great controversy about the sinking, over whether Lusitania was smuggling contraband war material to England and over the number of torpedoes Schwieger fired.
Before he got back to the docks at Wilhelmshaven for refuelling and resupply, the United States had formally protested to Berlin against the brutality of his action.
KaiserWilhelm II wrote in the margins of the American note, "Utterly impertinent", "outrageous", and "this is the most insolent thing in tone and bearing that I have had to read since the Japanese note last August." Nevertheless, to keep America out of the war, in June the Kaiser was compelled to rescind unrestricted submarine warfare and require all passenger liners be left unmolested.
On 4 September 1915 Schwieger was back at sea with U-20, 85 nautical miles (157 km) off the Fastnet Rock in the south Irish Sea. This rock held one of the key navigational markers in the western ocean, the Fastnet Lighthouse, and any ships passing in and out of the Irish Sea would be within visual contact of it.
RMS Hesperian was now beginning a new run outward bound from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal, with a general cargo, also doubling as a hospital ship, and carrying about 800 passengers. She was attacked off the Fastnet, a landmark islet in the north Atlantic, off the south-west coast of Ireland. The "Only a few days before, Count Bernsdorff, the German Ambassador, had assured the United States government that passenger liners will not be sunk without warning and without ensuring the safety of the non combatants aboard providing that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance."
This time, Schwieger was received with official disgust upon his return to Wilhelmshaven. Ordered to report to Berlin to explain himself, he was required to apologise for having sunk another passenger liner in defiance of a direct order not to do so again. He complained about his treatment in Berlin thereafter.
After his death in 1917, his submarine having struck a mine off the Frisian Islands, Schwieger was forgiven in Berlin. He received Germany's highest decoration, the Pour le Mérite. At the time of his death, Schwieger had sunk 49 ships with 183,883 tons-with three submarines on 34 missions. He was the Sixth most successful commander of WWI.[wiki] The Hesperian sank over a day after being torpedoed, on 6 September 1915, while being towed to Ireland. Thirty-two people were killed when a lifeboat upset while lowering. Hesperian was also carrying the body of Lusitania victim Frances Stephens on her last voyage, with Mrs. Stephens being sunk twice by the same submarine and commander. The body of Mrs. Stephens was still aboard as well. Mrs. Stephens’ casket, presumably still in Hesperian‘s hold, now lies not far from the Lusitania wreck which took her life. http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/saloon/frances-stephens/ The Hesperian sank over a day after being torpedoed, on 6 September 1915, while being towed to Ireland. The survivors were rescued during the night by several wary British ships in the vicinity and taken to Ireland. One man who had been blinded on the Western Front had his sight restored by the shock of the explosion. A boy had been left behind, sleeping in his bunk, throughout the sinking. The ship’s watertight bulkheads kept the ship afloat; the vessel was evacuated in less than an hour. Only the captain and several officers had remained on board as a skeleton crew. Captain Main hoped to beach the Hesperian or have her towed to Queenstown. The ship never made it. On 6 September 1915, Hesperian succumbed to the waves, sinking some 37 miles from land and not far from the Lusitania wreck.
Fastnet Lighthouse: Both a beacon and a deathtrap. U-20's notorious hunting ground.

[Sailor Steve]

I've just finished watching Lusitania: Murder on the Atlantic (aka Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at sea).


I had not heard of this film until today, when I watched Iambecomelife's excellent tribute. Despite the lurid title, the made-for-TV movie is very even handed, telling the story from both sides fairly faithfully. There are quite a few anachronisms, but that has to be expected given the low budget involved.

The events are recreated well, and stick mostly to the known facts. I recommend it.

[Aktungbby]

Strangely compelling reading discover'd while searching for [any] photo of the SS Queen Wilhelmina beached on the beach at Bondi-Carrs( see map- a naval graveyard it seems for several vessels) after being torpedoed by a U-boat http://www.fusilier.co.uk/north_east_northumberland_ww1_great_war_casualties/ww1_index.html Queen Wilhelmina , 3,590/1898, Furness, Withy & Co, Sunderland, London-reg, Mr E Dickinson, Leith for Fowey in ballast. Hit and damaged 20 miles S by E of Longstone, Outer Farne Is (L - 20 miles N by W of), beached at Bondicar, 1½m SSE of Amble (55.19N, 01.26W), total loss (+L/te/un/wi) Longstone lighthouse built 1828...a dreadful lonely place; It would appear that u-boats stalked prey near known navigation beacons such as this location or Fastnet as with the Lusitania."The island was a bleak situation to endure and the isolation must have been terrible, often storms were so bad as to drive the Lightkeeper's family into the upper rooms of the tower to seek refuge, the waves being so enormous that they covered the living quarters."

[Oberon]

Say what you will about Peter Jacksons films, but his enthusiasm for the First World War is unparalleled. I hope it will transfer to his Dambusters film whenever it is released.

His Gallipoli diorama:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11442988

[HunterICX]

Not sure if this has been posted already
this channel is doing a week by week report of what happened 100 years ago just like what Steve and Jim are doing in the ''100 years ago today'' day by day thread.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured

Well worth the watch

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Not sure if this has been posted already
this channel is doing a week by week report of what happened 100 years ago just like what Steve and Jim are doing in the ''100 years ago today'' day by day thread.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured

Well worth the watch

Duly subscribed, thanks for the heads up.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Not sure if this has been posted already
this channel is doing a week by week report of what happened 100 years ago just like what Steve and Jim are doing in the ''100 years ago today'' day by day thread.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/featured

Well worth the watch

Nice one Wim

[mapuc]

yea a great link, I'm listening to several episode every evening. This to catch up.

Markus