The Lusitania

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The Lusitania was a famous passenger ship, which was sunk by a German U-boat on May 7th 1915. It was near an Irish coast and luckily some fisherman came to help. It is considered a great tragedy for the British and Americans.

On 1st May 1915 the Lusitania left New York, it was a very luxurious boat and was meant to be very safe. It was stronger than the Titanic and was supposed to be sunk in 5-6 hours if it was damaged. However, a couple of miles of the Irish coast town, the Old Head of Kinsale, a German U-boat shot a torpedo at the side of the great liner.

This caused a tilt which meant that the life boats on the left hand side could not be launched. So only about half the life boats were actually launched as some got stuck, and many of the ones that were launched weren't full. Also, the Lusitania only took 18 minutes to sink.

When the Germans shot the torpedo there was a large explosion, followed by a smaller one. It is still a mystery to this day what the second explosion was; no one knows for sure, but many divers have found evidence that there may have been explosives on the ship which caused the second explosion.

As well as that, the Captain, William Turner, had been warned that the U-boat was around, and was advised to zig-zag at full speed. However, he did not take this advice. Instead he went in a slower straight line. It is commonly believed that the British Army wanted the uproar of the ship being sunk to compel young men into signing up. Also, as there were many Americans on the ship, the deaths of so many Americans at the hand of Germany might have made America want to join the war with the Allied powers.

The Lusitania sinking