Lusitania Essay -- essays research papers

LusitaniaIt was 210 p.m. on May 7, 1915. Leslie Morton, a lookout on the Lusitania,screamed, "Torpedoes coming on the starboard side." Two explosions followed. indoors 18 minutes the huge liner, once the largest ever built, sank to thebottom of the Celtic Sea. 1,195 out of the 1,959 people aboard died. WaltherSchwieger, commander of the German submarine U- 20, who had laid-off a singletorpedo 750 yards away from the move, later called it the most terrible sight hehad ever seen.The Lusitania entered service between Liverpool and New York on September7, 1907. Funded by the British Admiralty, the Lusitania, built by the CunardSteam ship Company, was compulsory to double as an auxiliary cruiser in case of war.This was a secret agreement between the Admiralty and Cunard. On May 12, 1913she was put in drydock to be double plated and hydraulically riveted, as well asmodified for the application of guns. War was declared on August 4, 1914, andthe ship was sent again into drydock . There she was armed with 12 six-inchguns(Simpson 60).Britain wanted to ship war materials over the Atlantic, but there was anembargo of shipping munitions on passenger ships. America also tended to publishthe cargo ostensibles so that the consort as well as the Germans would know what isbeing shipped. Britain found a loophole in this. New cargo added at the lastminute did non go on the original manifest, thus a supplementary manifest wouldbe submitted 4 or 5 days later. Also, due to t...