The key issue was the savagery in the German failure to allow passengers to escape on life boats as required by international law. Lusitania held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania three months later. [44] This would be a major factor in damage that Lusitania suffered at the hands of a rogue wave in January 1910. On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania had left port in New York for Liverpool to make her 202nd trip across the Atlantic. There are a number of conspiracy theories relating to the last days of Lusitania. In February 2009, the Discovery Channel television series Treasure Quest aired an episode titled "Lusitania Revealed", in which Gregg Bemis, a retired venture capitalist who owns the rights to the wreck, and a team of shipwreck experts explore the wreck via a remote control unmanned submersible. [30] In the days before Lusitania and even still during the years in which Lusitania was in service, third-class accommodation consisted of large open spaces where hundreds of people would share open berths and hastily constructed public spaces, often consisting of no more than a small portion of open deck space and a few tables constructed within their sleeping quarters. The shipyard at John Brown had to be reorganised because of her size so that she could be launched diagonally across the widest available part of the river Clyde where it met a tributary, the ordinary width of the river being only 610 feet (190 m) compared to the 786-foot (240 m) long ship. Complex litigation ensued, with all parties settling their differences apart from the salvors and the British Government, which asserted "droits of admiralty" over the recovered items. Others say that coal dust, kicked up when the torpedo hit, exploded. Due to the liner's great speed, some believe the intersection of the G… The smoking room was Queen Anne style, with Italian walnut panelling and Italian red furnishings. Although it was May, this lard and butter was not refrigerated; it was insured by the special government rate but the insurance was never claimed. There has long been a theory, expressed by historian and former British naval intelligence officer Patrick Beesly and authors Colin Simpson and Donald E. Schmidt among others, that Lusitania was deliberately placed in danger by the British authorities, so as to entice a U-boat attack and thereby drag the US into the war on the side of Britain. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, The Sinking of the Lusitania and America's Entry into World War I, World History Events in the Decade 1910-1919, The US and Great Britain's Special Relationship, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Interaction of Natural Survival Instincts and Internalized Social Norms Exploring the Titanic and Lusitania Disasters, B.A., History, University of California at Davis. At one point in the documentary an unexploded depth charge was found in the wreckage. To commemorate the occasion, Cunard's MS Queen Victoria undertook a voyage to Cork, Ireland.[100]. The sinking shifted public opinion in the United States against Germany and was one of the factors in the declaration of war nearly two years later. [115] A Dublin-based technical diver, Des Quigley, who dived on the wreck in the 1990s, reported that the wreck is "like Swiss cheese" and the seabed around her "is littered with unexploded hedgehog mines". The wreck would have presented a good return signal and, thus, a tempting target. The Department of the Environment's Underwater Archaeology Unit was to join the survey team to ensure that research would be carried out in a non-invasive manner, and a film crew from the Discovery Channel was also to be on hand. The steam capstans to raise them were constructed by Napier Brothers Ltd, of Glasgow. Imperial German EmbassyWashington, D.C., 22 April 1915. [84], In the United States public opinion was outraged; war talk was rife and pro-German elements kept quiet. Noted as being the prime breadwinner for trans-Atlantic shipping lines, third class aboard Lusitania was praised for the improvement in travel conditions it provided to emigrant passengers, and Lusitania proved to be a quite popular ship for immigrants. The toll of civilians killed in this disaster shocked the world. She achieved a speed of 26 knots over a measured mile loaded to a draught of 33 feet (10 m), and managed 26.5 knots over a 60-mile (97 km) course drawing 31.5 feet (9.6 m). One wall had a mosaic of a river scene in Brittany, while the sliding windows were blue tinted. Lusitania's first-class accommodation was in the centre section of the ship on the five uppermost decks, mostly concentrated between the first and fourth funnels. The records that are available are often missing critical pages, and lingering questions include the following: [104][105][106][107], Lusitania was officially carrying among her cargo 750 tons of rifle/machine-gun ammunition, 1250 cases of shrapnel artillery shells with the explosive burster charges loaded but no fuses or propellant charges, and the artillery fuses for those shells stored separately. RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 miles (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. Almost immediately, another explosion rocked the ship. In an attempt to break that mould, the Cunard Line began designing ships such as Lusitania with more comfortable third-class accommodation. [35], The ship was launched on 7 June 1906, eight weeks later than planned due to labour strikes and eight months after Lord Inverclyde's death. [34], The ship's stockless bower anchors weighed 101⁄4 tons, attached to 125 ton, 330 fathom chains all manufactured by N. Hingley & Sons Ltd. Three of the four propellers were removed by Oceaneering International in 1982 for display. On 10 January 1910, Lusitania was on a voyage from Liverpool to New York,[56] when, two days into the trip, she encountered a rogue wave that was 23-metres (75 ft) high. At high speeds the vibration frequency resonated with the ship's stern making the matter worse. The British government continues to keep secret certain documents relating to the final days of the voyage, including certain of the signals passed between the Admiralty and Lusitania.
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