Unsolved mysteries of Lusitania. "Lusitania". Life and death between two shores

Who was behind the sinking of the fastest steamship in the world?

As a result of the torpedoing by a German military submarine of a passenger transatlantic liner May 7, 1915 killed 1198 people out of 1959 on board. Among the dead - 785 passengers, including 94 children, including 35 babies.

War of the Atlantic

The four-pipe Lusitania is Britain's answer to German competitors who dominated transatlantic traffic. Under the Bismarck Law adopted at the end of the 19th century, shipping companies on colonial lines were generously subsidized by the state, as a result of which the Germans became monopolists. The powerful high-speed liners Deutschland, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Kronprincess Cecilia were launched into the water, which were considered the fastest at the time of construction.
Britain could not accept the loss of positions and soon took away from Germany the international prize of speed - the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic. Built in 1907, the Lusitania and Mauritania became the fastest giant liners with the potential of warships. Under the terms of the contract between the Admiralty and the Kunard Line shipbuilding company, none of its leadership positions could be held by a foreign national. As for specifications the liners themselves, then in addition to minimum speed at 24.5 knots, they were to be equipped, if necessary, with twelve 6-inch rapid-fire guns.

Not gonna get us

The most significant innovation of the Lusitania were steam turbines. Unlike traditional piston engines, the new liner had four propellers driven by giant high and low pressure turbines with a total capacity of 70,000 horsepower. Thanks to such a "power station", the Lusitania developed a record speed of 25-27 knots. Atlantic Ocean A 240-meter ship with a displacement of 38,000 tons crossed in four and a half days, for which it deservedly gained fame as the fastest steamship on the planet. In eight years, a quarter of a million delighted passengers have used its services. Their flow was not stopped by the First World War. People were not afraid of military excesses, because once even a military cruiser could not catch up with the Lusitania.

Lost salvation

On May 1, 1915, Alfred Vanderbilt boarded the Lusitania at the pier of the English steamship company in New York - one of the richest people in the world was a great lover of equestrian sports and gathered to see racehorses in London. As soon as he climbed the ladder, he received an anonymous dispatch: “Delay the voyage and leave the ship immediately. It is known from reliable sources that it will be torpedoed.” A VIP passenger, who was under the guns of reporters' cameras, shared his disturbing warning with the press, and the next morning the text of a strange telegram was published by American newspapers. The Lusitania was already in the waters of the Atlantic by that time, heading for Liverpool.

The owners of the Cunard Line ignored the threats, considering the ship, with its double bottom and watertight compartments, unsinkable. Ship with remote closing of watertight doors and fire-fighting automatics, electric control of the steering device and electric descent lifeboats seemed the height of reliability. And Vanderbilt quickly relaxed over a glass of elite champagne in a luxurious first-class cabin ...

And the wealthy shoe merchant Edward B. Bowen, who was also supposed to sail with his wife on this flight, was not on board. The day before the steamer's departure, he telephoned a transport agent from Boston that he had decided to cancel the trip because of an uneasy feeling: “I think something will happen to the Lusitania. Despite important business in London, my wife and I will not go tomorrow.”

With kids and ammo

It should be noted that at that time there were no German submarines in the Atlantic yet. Germany was to the advantage of undermining the military power of opponents, but what risk did a peaceful passenger ship with citizens of neutral states on board have? The Lusitania carried machinery from Boston and food, bales of hides and copper. True, later there were rumors that among her cargo, modestly estimated at 750 thousand dollars, there was not only sheet bronze, but also gold bars worth 6 million dollars not indicated in the ship's manifest. And also - 4200 boxes of ammunition for rifles, more than a hundred boxes with empty shrapnel cups and remote tubes without a charge. But even despite the auxiliary military cargo, the ship with the American flag on the stern bridge remained a passenger ship with a children's room and infirmary, a dietary kitchen for babies and nannies.

The Lusitania was led by an experienced 50-year-old captain of the Cunard company, William Turner. It was he who owned both speed records in the English fleet - both on the Lusitania and on the Mauritania. And this circumstance gave the passengers confidence that the journey from America to Europe would be quick and safe.

The Germans opened the hunt

Meanwhile, the 32-year-old commander of the German military submarine U-20 Schwieger was instructed to sink all enemy ships encountered. Having unmoored from the pier in Emden before the departure of the Lusitania, on May 5, with eight shells, he sent the trading schooner Earl of Latham, heading to Liverpool, with a cargo of potatoes, eggs and bacon, to the bottom at the cape of Old Head of Kinsale, and a day later torpedoed liners "Centurion" and "Candidate".

At this point, the Lusitania was 500 miles from the military zone. Having received a warning radio message from the British Admiralty about enemy activation off the Irish coast, Captain Turner ordered the sailors to uncover the lifeboats and dump them overboard in case of urgent evacuation of passengers during a sudden attack. Rescue equipment there would have been enough with a margin: there were more than 600 more places in the boats than there were people on board. In addition, there were life jackets and circles.
When 22 boats were already hanging on the hoists, the captain received a new warning: German submarines were waiting for victims at the Fastnet rocks. All the necessary precautions were taken by the captain: the doors were battened down, the personnel at the observation posts were doubled, and the steam was dispersed for top speed in the engine room.

easy target

But on the morning of May 7, thick fog did not allow high speed at the Irish Cape Clear. In the dense white curtain it was impossible to see even nearby objects, so the double guard at the observation post turned out to be powerless. The captain ordered to slow down, and the ship went at a speed of 15-18 knots. After the Admiralty reported about submarines between St. George's Channel and Waterford, the captain was forced to deviate from the set course by 20 degrees to the north, and at 13.40 the Irish coast appeared in front of the Lusitania. The ports of Old Head of Kinsale had to be passed at full speed. But by increasing the speed, the ship would have arrived in Liverpool before the onset of high water. In this case, it would take several hours to maneuver before the mouth of the Mersey River.
Turner decided to change course again and follow due east, although in dangerous waters ships were ordered to follow a zigzag course. The captain justified himself by saying that the detected submarine should be the basis for the anti-submarine zigzag. So far, there was no such danger, and the ship, 10 miles from the coast, was moving at a constant speed of 18 knots. Forty minutes of constant speed at a constant course were needed to determine the exact location of the board. It was impossible to make a greater gift to an enemy submarine.

For the U-20 submarine, the Lusitania was easy prey. At 14.10 on May 7, Lusitania sailor Leslie Morton shouted into a megaphone about torpedoes from the starboard side. A moment later, the ship was rocked by an explosion...

More dramatic than instructions

According to U-20 Captain Schwieger's note, the strike behind the bridge to starboard was accompanied by a powerful detonation with a large explosive cloud above the first funnel. The first explosion was followed by a second: detonated coal, boiler or gunpowder. Two coal bunkers were destroyed, the boiler rooms were flooded. The bridge was engulfed in flames, the ship stopped and began to fall to the starboard side. A hole appeared in the side under the waterline, into which the locomotive would have passed. The ship began to quickly fill with water, and the captain realized that it would not be possible to reach the coastal shallows for 10 miles. But at the same time, the dying superliner, even with the simultaneous flooding of two compartments, had to stay afloat for at least an hour. During this time, the captain hoped to save people by lowering
boats on the water.

Alas, everything turned out to be more dramatic than the instructions promised. According to reports, out of 48 lifeboats, only six were launched. And those rescues were not for everyone. Part of the boats that touched the water turned around and hit the side of the liner. The people were in the water. Not everyone could swim. Women and children were the first to be rescued from a sinking ship ...

Terrible end

In the seventh minute after the torpedo attack, the bank angle was already 30 degrees. Paradoxically, the reason for this was the ship's vaunted water resistance. Of course, 175 hermetic compartments did their job. But because of this, the water flowed unevenly on the left and right sides of the side, which caused the loss of many lifeboats. With the Lusitania rapidly sinking bow into the water from the port side, the boats fell onto the deck, and they could no longer be launched into the water on davits. And it was impossible to evacuate people from the lower decks in boats hanging on hoists from the starboard side: with an increase in the list, the board at the waterline moved further and further away from them. There were no “grandfather's” wooden rafts, which could be simply thrown off the side, on the “modern” Lusitania. In the hustle and bustle of the disaster, the team was able to give passengers only a fifth of the life jackets on board. Meanwhile, 2,400 of them were reserved, while there were less than 2,000 people on board.
“There must be a commotion on the ship,” the captain of the German submarine wrote in his journal. - The boats in a hurry were lowered stern and bow down, which is why they immediately filled with water and went to the bottom. Everyone seems to have lost their minds. I did not dare to finish off these doomed people with a second torpedo.

After 18 minutes giant liner escaped into the waters of the Atlantic. In 3rd class cabins, most of the passengers were buried alive. Those who were lucky enough to get out were floundering in the ocean: someone was waiting for the verdict of fate in an overcrowded boat, someone was trying to stay on a wooden fragment, and the well-swimming captain of the ship, Turner, clung to the oar.

Heroes and cowards

Alarm callsigns onboard radio operator Robert Leith sent on the air one after another. The distress signal was received by many radio stations. And the wrecked ship was helped: the Greeks and local fishermen, and not the fellow countrymen of the passengers who asked for help - the British and Americans. The English cruiser Juno, under the command of Admiral Hood, the English ships City of Exeter and Etonian, as well as the American tanker Narragansett, who had advanced to the disaster area, preferred to retreat as soon as they learned about the appearance of German submarines. The captains of the Greek freighter Katarina, the Irish tugboats Stormcock and Flying, the trawlers Kolk and Indiana Empire, as well as the motorboat Elizabeth and other fishing boats turned out to be more courageous. It was they who became the rescuers of the victims of the disaster from the Lusitania.

Delivered to Queenstown, the rescued turned out to be one and a half times less than the drowned. The unidentified bodies were eventually buried in three common graves. Among the dead were the English director Frohman, the English oceanographer Stackhouse, the playwright Klein, the famous American writer Foreman and the American billionaire Alfred Vanderbilt, who did not heed the fatal warning.

Conspiracy theory

The New World was indignant at the tragedy that claimed the lives of 124 American citizens out of 159 on board. The American press called the bombing of a civilian passenger ship "premeditated murder", and the future President Roosevelt demanded retaliatory measures against Germany.

The British Themis blamed the submarine commander personally for the incident, which gave reason to suspect the British Admiralty of deliberately setting the Lusitania under attack in order to draw the United States into the war. A number of analysts blamed the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, for playing such a solitaire, arguing their guesses with a quote from his letter written before the disaster. In particular, Churchill pointed out the importance of bringing the ships of neutral states, and especially the United States, to British shores in order to quarrel them with Germany.
Who was behind the death of the Lusitania in fact is an open question. No less interesting is the author of the warning about the planned torpedo attack, who remained unknown ...

The second catastrophe of the century - the death in 1915 of a giant English liner"Lusitania", which took place under circumstances strange and still not clear. This catastrophe was called one of the most tragic and mysterious events of the First World War. Many details of this catastrophe are still considered secret for some reason. Meanwhile, at first glance, there should not be anything particularly mysterious in this story.

The Lusitania was the pride of the English shipping company Cunard Line. Built in 1907, when the German transatlantic companies launched a particularly active struggle for "a place in the sun", it was supposed to remind everyone that Great Britain is still the mistress of the seas. In addition, Parliament and the Admiralty pinned special hopes on the Lusitania as a potential warship. On the liner, if necessary, it was possible to install twelve rapid-fire guns. So, not without reason, the German transatlantic companies saw the Lusitania as a powerful rival, and the German authorities accused the British government of using the liner to transport weapons and other contraband across the Atlantic. On a medal cast by Munich craftsmen in August 1915, the Lusitania is depicted with a military aircraft and a gun on deck under the satirical comment "No smuggling." The reverse side shows a skeleton selling tickets, and on the top is the inscription "Business First", hinting that Cunard Line deliberately puts at risk for its enrichment civilians. Be that as it may, the economic and military interests of the German elite coincided, and a real hunt was arranged for the Lusitania.

The chronicle of events is as follows.
On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania, on a New York-Liverpool voyage, was attacked by the German submarine U-20 Walter Schwieger near south coast Ireland. From a distance of seven hundred and fifty yards, he sent a single torpedo. It happened at 2:10 in the afternoon. Huge liner disappeared in the waves in just 18 minutes, leaving a mess of people, deck chairs, oars and masses of debris on the surface. Looking at this picture from his submarine, even Schwieger was shocked. He later said that it was the worst sight he had ever seen. Then he made the following entry in the logbook: “Obviously, the ship will not stay afloat for long. I dive to a depth of twenty-four meters and go into the sea. I could not fire a second torpedo into this crowd of living people trying to escape.
Of the 1,959 people aboard the ship, 1,198 died.
A German submarine torpedoed and sank a passenger ship...

But over time, other hypotheses began to emerge. So, according to the testimony of the English journalist K. Simpson, who became interested in the “Lusitania case”, official version contains "significant omissions and obvious inaccuracies", as well as an abundance of carefully fabricated and manipulated data. Documents found in the archives of the British steamship company Cunard Lines, as well as in the US government archives, make us look at this story a little differently.

So, in the early morning of May 1, 1915, the assistant captain of the Lusitania traditionally met passengers at the gangway. But then reporters came up to him and showed him the morning issue of the New York Tribune, which featured an ominous warning from the German embassy among the paid advertisements. It strongly advised the Americans not to use the services of British passenger liners because of the possibility of an attack by German submarines. The passengers got excited. However, a representative of the Kunard company hastened to reassure everyone: “The liner of our company has been and remains the most fast ship in the Atlantic. And no German warship or submarine will be able to catch up with the Lusitania.” And in the afternoon, exactly on schedule, the Lusitania left the pier in the port of New York ...

During the First World War, English civilian sailors had to obey the orders of the officers of the Admiralty. It was the military who determined the course of merchant and passenger ships, and informed the captains of information about German submarines. Knowing the secret radio codes of the German fleet, British military radio stations intercepted the radio signals of German submariners at sea and determined their location.
The captain of the Lusitania, Turner, did not receive any warning before going to sea. Only on the evening of May 6 did a radiogram arrive on the liner: a German submarine was spotted off the southern coast of Ireland. Moreover, the radiogram was transmitted not by the naval command, but by the commander of the anti-submarine flotilla, Admiral Coke, who, having received reports of the death of two small steamers, determined the area of ​​\u200b\u200boperation of the submarine.

The radiogram came when the liner approached the Strait of St. George. It was there that enemy submariners most often lay in wait for prey. But the captain could not change the ship's course without the order of an Admiralty officer or, in extreme cases, without instructions from the commander of the warship. Therefore, Captain Turner went down to the salon, casually informed the passengers about the possibility of the appearance of enemy submarines and reassured everyone by saying that the liner was under the protection of the Royal Navy. These were not empty words, since at Cape Fastnet Rock, Atlantic liners were usually escorted by English cruisers. But on that day, May 7, not a single warship For some reason, the Royal Navy was not around. And no one prevented the German submarine from attacking the Lusitania, which sank after the very first torpedo...

Already after the end of the war, many historians were interested in the question: why so big ship sunk so fast? According to the British version, this happened because not one, but two torpedoes were fired at the ship. However, even the government commission could not really explain why even two torpedoes caused such catastrophic damage on the ship ...

In 1926, the famous English naval historian Wilson tried to clarify the situation by noting that among the Lusitania's cargo were "boxes with rifle cartridges and unfilled, empty blanks for shrapnel shells." A total of 3800 boxes lined with canvas - a cargo marked for greater secrecy in the ship's documents as packages of cheese. According to the same documents, US citizen A. Fraser was listed as the sender of this mysterious cargo. But, as the audit showed, at that moment Fraser was an insolvent debtor and could not afford to send such a large consignment across the ocean.
Based on this fact, K. Simpson suggested that Fraser was a figurehead, with the help of which the British processed the export of military materials from the United States produced at the factories of the DuPont company.

In Germany, it has become generally accepted version that the torpedo explosion caused the detonation of a significant amount of ammunition that was in the hold near the coal bunkers. It was for this reason that the decks and superstructures of the sinking Lusitania were destroyed, the former Minister of the German Navy Tirpitz noted in his memoirs.
The same version was indirectly confirmed by the passenger of the Lusitania, Canadian professor J. Marechal, who claimed that after the explosion of the torpedo he heard a second explosion, which was the sound of exploding ammunition. The professor could not be mistaken, because during the years of military service he gained certain experience.
In light of all this, even the Chairman of the Royal Commission, Lord Mersey, subsequently recognized the “Lusitania affair” as a “dirty story” ...

And the attempt to shed the light of truth on it much later also turned out to be fruitless. When in April 1982 the Scottish ship "Merwig" approached the place of the sinking of the Lusitania and a small, remote-controlled submarine was launched from the ship, underwater television cameras showed that the bow compartments of the sunken liner were cleared of debris, and the cargo hatch cover was torn off. When the cameras "looked" into the hold, an image of the ship's inner plating appeared with deep longitudinal grooves that the bucket could leave for lifting sunken objects and cargo.
Someone obviously tried to cover all traces...

Story [ | ]

Design, construction, and testing[ | ]

Launching

The Lusitania project was developed by Cunard Line designer Leonard Peskett. In 1902, Peskett built a large model of the liners being developed, which was a three-pipe steamer. In 1904, it was decided to install additional boilers, to remove the exhaust from which a fourth pipe was added to the project. Before the widespread use of turbine propulsion, the Cunard Line installed a smaller version of the turbine in their Carmania in 1905 to see if the technology could be used.

The keel of the Lusitania was laid down at the shipyard John Brown & Co. at number 367 on June 16, 1904. She was launched and christened Lady Mary Inverclyde on June 7, 1906.

In October 1907, the Lusitania won the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic, taking it from the German liner Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Lusitania sailed at an average speed of 23.99 knots (44.43 km/h) going west and 23.61 knots (43.73 km/h) going east.

With the commissioning of "Mauritania" in November 1907, "Lusitania" and "Mauritania" repeatedly took away from each other " blue ribbon Atlantic". The Lusitania made her fastest westbound journey at an average speed of 25.85 knots (47.87 km/h) between 8 and 12 August 1909. In September of the same year, she lost the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic forever to the Mauritania, which set a record of 26.06 knots. This record was surpassed only in 1929 .

War [ | ]

German-declared submarine war zone, February 1915. Ships in this zone could be searched or attacked.

The Lusitania's construction and operating costs were subsidized by the British government, with the proviso that the ship could be converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser (AAC) if necessary. When the First World War began, the British government expected to requisition it, and the Lusitania was included in the official list of the VVK. However, then similar big liners were deemed unsuitable for use in this capacity due to the high consumption of coal. However, the Lusitania remained on the official list of the VVK and was listed as an auxiliary cruiser.

Many large liners were used as troop transports or as hospital ships. The Mauritania became a troop transport while the Lusitania worked for the Cunard Line as a luxury liner carrying people from the UK to the US and back. The new Aquitania was converted into a hospital ship while the White Star Line and Mauritania Olympic were moving troops into the Mediterranean. However, the Cunard Line continued to draw the attention of the Admiralty, stating that the Lusitania could be requisitioned at any time if hostilities escalated. In order to reduce operating costs for crossing the Atlantic, the Lusitania had reduced monthly flights and sealed 4 boilers. The maximum speed has now been reduced to 21 knots (39 km/h). But even in this mode of operation, the Lusitania was the fastest commercial passenger liner in the North Atlantic and 10 knots (19 km / h) faster than any submarine. However, the Lusitania has undergone many changes:

• the ship's name was painted over,
• a compass platform has been added to the roof of the bridge,
• the pipes of the Lusitania were painted black instead of the colors of the Cunard Line,
• a second compass platform was added between the first and second pipes,
• two additional baggage cranes were installed in the aft deckhouse,
• during her last journey she did not raise any standards.

On 5 and 6 May U-20 sank three ships, and the Royal Navy sent out a warning to all British ships: "Submarines active off the south coast of Ireland." Captain On May 6, I received this message twice and took all precautions: watertight doors were closed, all windows were battened down, the number of observers was doubled, all boats were uncovered and thrown overboard to speed up the evacuation of passengers in case of danger.

On Friday 7 May at 11:00 the Admiralty transmitted another message and Turner corrected course. He probably thought that the submarines should be on the open sea and would not come from the coast, and the Lusitania would be protected by proximity to land.

At 13:00, one of the sailors of the German submarine U-20 noticed a large four-tube vessel ahead. He reported to Captain Walter Schwieger that he had spotted a large four-tube ship traveling at about 18 knots. By that time, U-20 had used up a significant part of the fuel, two torpedoes remained on board, and the commander had the decision to abandon the advance towards Liverpool. Schwieger intended to linger in the northern part of the Celtic Sea and attack ships heading towards Bristol Bay, then, when 3/5 of the fuel supply remains, return to base, bypassing Ireland from the east side

In 1915, the sinking of the Lusitania, the huge British ocean liner, shocked the world. Sinking to the bottom of this majestic ship, took with it more than 1000 lives. Until today, the exact causes of the disaster are not fully understood. Over the years, many researchers and divers have tried to study this issue. And only now the secret seems to be revealed.

May 1915 Pier 54 in New York is bustling. Lusitania, the largest and most modern ship, is at anchor. The length of the ocean giant stretches for 239 meters, and its top seems to reach the heavens. Compared to him, all other ships seem so insignificant. The British shipbuilding company Cunard Line used all its knowledge and experience to develop the Lusitania and Mauretania, two ships of which there were no analogues on earth. This uniqueness was achieved not so much because of the size of the ships, but because of their technical equipment. The control was carried out by two powerful gas turbines, which were then installed on modern ships for more than a hundred years, the ship developed a speed of more than 25 knots.

Star of the Cunard Line.

She was launched from the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland in 1906, but it took more than a year before the Lusitania began carrying passengers. Cunard Line built not only the fastest, but also the most beautiful and comfortable ship. First class cabins were comparable to rooms in the most expensive hotels in Europe. Not surprisingly, a one-way fare aboard the Lusitania was about US$4,000, an unfathomable amount for the time, and very few people could afford that kind of money. Such a price was not economically justified, since the second and third classes were of greater importance to the shipbuilding company. There were 1,168 cabins in third class alone. I must say that all together they took up much less space than the first class cabins. Money did not matter, prestige played a major role in the development of these two liners. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German Empire produced some wonderful and very fast ships such as the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. Blue Riband has been awarded the prestigious award for the fastest transatlantic crossing. This award was in the hands of Germany. In addition to prestige and fame, this award had serious military claims. Understanding the situation of those times, Lord Inverclyde, the president of Cunard Lines confirmed to the British government under the leadership of Prime Minister Balfour that after minor modifications, comfortable liners can be used for military purposes. Both ships Mauritania and Lusitania were used as cruise ships, but were in service with the Royal Army.

Warship or not?

Let us go back to May 1, 1915: The New York Times, at the warning of the German consul, informed passengers of the wartime danger of crossing Atlantic Ocean. Captain Lusitania Turner only glanced at this warning. He was not afraid of German submarines. Most of the passengers felt the same way, everyone hoped that the war was about to end and that only warships would be affected. Lusitania left the port of New York. A day earlier, another ship had left the pier on the other side of the Atlantic. U-20 commanded by Lieutenant Commander Schweiger. Schweiger is young and known as one of the best submarine captains of the day. The German command considered submarines to be the center of its naval strategy. In response to the British tactical blockade, the German Empire hit Britain with the same tactics. Submarines cruised along british isles, interrupting all deliveries from foreign suppliers.

Dangerous submarines.

Technically, submarines are at a very early stage in their development. With a top speed of around 13 knots, the U-20 can only be submerged for a few hours due to the batteries draining quickly. Submarine torpedoes can only be fired on the surface. Despite all these technical shortcomings, the combat effectiveness of submarines is simply frightening. The face of war at sea has changed. Lieutenant Commander Schweiger was not very productive throughout the campaign along England. Under his command, U-20 had the opportunity to sink two ships with a total displacement of 11,485 tons, but on May 7, 1915, everything could change. The crew of the Lusitania were concerned about enemy activity off the coast of Ireland, but Captain Turner firmly believed that the U-boats would not harm them.

What's more, Turner took no precautions. He did not zigzag, did not keep a safe distance from coastline. Rather, it slowly moved straight into the hands of an invisible enemy.

“Four chimneys and two masts of a steamer sprang up straight ahead of us, which was heading perpendicular to us,” Schweiger would later write in the ship's log. Guided by their records, he did not fully identify the ship, but knew that it looked like a passenger liner. Schweiger gave the order to prepare for torpedoing. passenger ship went straight for him. And not knowing exactly what kind of ship in front of him, he gave the order for a torpedo attack.

At 3:10 p.m. torpedoes blew up the starboard side in the middle of the bow.

A few seconds later there was a second explosion, and the massive ship quickly began to topple over on its side.

Only now did the German captain realize that this was Lusitania.

The place where the torpedo hit was quickly found, but it was too late to do anything. The blast wave from the impact spread throughout the ship. Although the blow was significant, not all the passengers of the ship realized what had happened, but a few seconds later there was a powerful explosion. From that moment on, everyone on board the Lusitania understood the situation they were in. 18 minutes after the torpedoing, the stern rose above the water and a few seconds later Lusitania disappeared from the surface of the water. 1,195 passengers and crew died.

The sinking of the Lusitania caused a wave of indignation. Never before had warships sunk passenger ships without warning. Among the victims of the disaster were 123 Americans. The death of Lusitania served as a reason for the US to come close to Britain to impose Western propaganda.

Germany's response was not long in coming. The Luzitania was identified as a warship carrying weapons and explosives. According to Germany, the explosion of Luzitania was caused by the detonation of the explosives she was carrying. As a result, Luzitania was a military target for the German army. This was only the beginning of unrestricted submarine warfare.

Over the past 80 years, many expeditions have been organized to survey the ship. However, due to the imperfection of the technologies of past years, there was not enough material evidence to verify, so all versions remained in question.

Robert D. Ballard first arrived on an expedition in the 1990s to explore the Titanic. Until that time, many researchers assumed that Lusitania really carried contraband on board and Schweiger really happy accident fell into the stockpile of explosives. Ballard took advantage of all the technical possibilities during the expedition of the 90s. With the same equipment that he had surveyed the Titanic, he sank to the bottom to inspect Lusitania, which lay on the ocean floor just 6 miles from shore at a depth of 93 meters.

Ballard version.

For two weeks, he studied records from controlled robots and underwater vehicles to record the state of the vessel. At the end, he presented his amazing version. In this version, the central hold played a decisive role. If weapons or ammunition exploded here, there would be significant destruction in this place. The traces of such an explosion would be obvious and easily documented. During this expedition, Ballard found no evidence of such an explosion. From this, he concluded that there were no explosives or weapons there. Based on this version, coal dust in the front empty bunkers caused the explosion. This version was quickly confirmed and quickly accepted. British military historians. If we give a critical assessment of the survey, the question remains: “Are the circumstances of the death of Lusitania fully understood?”.

The Gregg Bemis expedition paints a different picture

Since the 1990s, the Loyal Watcher, a British diving expedition vessel, has been cruising over the site where Lusitania sank over 80 years ago. ivera. Among divers, Lusitania is famous for having the most difficult wreck to dive and diving on it is the privilege of professionals. Poor visibility, strong currents, huge depths are conquered only by very well trained divers. Gregg Bemis is also on board. He worked with Lusitania for decades, and since the 1970s the Americans have been the official owners of the wreck, despite long legal battles with the Irish government.

Divers want to explore the wreck for several days. They are accompanied by two Irish authorities who supervise the activities of the divers.

Wonderful weather. Four teams of two divers survey the wreck. Bottom time is only 20 minutes, decompression is up to 2.5 hours. The first few dives bring new surprises. "I've dived a lot of wrecks," says Clegg. “But the Lusitania is in a very bad state. Nearly the entire top is torn and there are large holes everywhere.”

Bemis says he knows why: "The Navy used the wreck in the 1930s and 1950s as a shooting range."

Shooting exercises? - The grave of more than a thousand people?

Did they want to destroy the evidence? Bemis has something to say: “The British Army was diving to recover something from Lusitania. They did not openly admit this, but there is a lot of evidence for this. There is a terrible mess around the ship. The ship is very heavily entangled in nets, which makes it very difficult for divers. A few days later, one thought came to Clegg: “The most interesting parts of the central hold are buried in the thickness of the seabed. In my opinion, it was impossible for robots or submarines to penetrate these parts of the ship.”

Ballard's theory has been shaken, if not completely refuted.

Bemis “He didn't have a chance to adequately assess the hold, of course it's possible that the equipment caused the second explosion. Of course his coal dust theory is very unconvincing.”

Bemis big plans for the future: “If we want to find out real reasons catastrophe, we must make a hole in the hold and suck out all the bottom sediments. Only after that we will be able to get to the place where the torpedo hit, after that it will be possible to establish the causes of the second explosion.” Irish government on this moment denied American divers such actions. “I will fight for it and I am sure that I will get this permission soon.”

The expedition found huge fragments of 303 caliber shells inside the Lusitania wreck. Judging by the ammunition that was found, it certainly intended for the needs of the army. For Greg Bemis, the reasons for the second explosion are obvious: “After we found this, Britain can no longer hide that there were weapons on board. So the question is what else was on board? I have a feeling that there were still a lot of all kinds of explosive materials on board, fuel, gunpowder that could provoke an explosion. That's what sank the ship."

Translation: Irina Yakobson

The Lusitania (RMS Lusitania) is a British passenger liner owned (like the Mauritania of the same type) by Cunard Line (Russian Cunard Line, full English name Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company). Torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915. The ship sank in 18 minutes 13 km off the coast of Ireland. 1198 people died out of 1959 who were on board. The sinking of the Lusitania set public opinion many countries against Germany and contributed to the entry of the United States into the First World War two years later.

The Lusitania was designed by Cunard Line designer Leonard Peskett. Peskett built a large model of the proposed vessels in 1902, demonstrating a three-pipe design. A fourth chimney was added to the project in 1904 to carry exhaust from additional boilers. Before the widespread use of turbine propulsion on ships, the Cunard Line installed a smaller version of the turbine on its Carmania in 1905 to see if the technology could be used.
On the construction of "Louisiana"

The keel of the Lusitania was laid down at the John Brown & Co. yard in Clydebank at 367 on June 16, 1904.

She was launched and christened Mary, Lady Inverclyde on 7 June 1906.
RMS Lusitania before launching on 7 June 1906.

Launching the Lusitania

On July 27, 1907, preliminary and formal tests of the Lusitania began. Shipbuilding engineers and representatives of the Cunard Line found that the high speed caused a lot of vibration in the hull, so they had to harden the hull. After these modifications, the ship was handed over to Cunard Line a year later, on 26 August.
The Lusitania sailed from the Liverpool quay on 7 September 1907 on a Saturday, under the command of Commodore James Watt. The ship arrived in New York on Friday, September 13th.
The Lusitania arrives in New York on her maiden voyage. 1907

At that time she was the largest ocean liner in the world and was supposed to remain so until the commissioning of "Mauritania" in November of the same year. During her eight years of service, the Lusitania made a total of 202 voyages across the Atlantic between Liverpool and New York.
Dining Salon "Lusitania"

In October 1907, the Lusitania won the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic from the German liner Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Lusitania sailed at an average speed of 23.99 knots (44.43 km/h) going west and 23.61 knots (43.73 km/h) going east.
With the commissioning of Mauritania in November 1907, the Lusitania and Mauritania repeatedly took away the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic from each other. The Lusitania made her fastest westward journey at an average speed of 25.85 knots (47.87 km/h) in 1909. In September of the same year, she lost the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic forever to the Mauritania, which set a record of 26.06 knots. This record was surpassed only in 1929.
First class deck restaurant

The Lusitania's construction and operating costs were subsidized by the British government, with the proviso that the ship could be converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser if necessary. When the First World War began, the Admiralty expected to requisition her as an armed auxiliary cruiser (VVK), and the Lusitania was included in the official list of the VVK. However, then such large liners were found unsuitable for use as armed auxiliary cruisers due to the large consumption of coal. However, the Lusitania remained on the official list of the VVK and was listed as an auxiliary cruiser.
Lusitania, bedroom 1st class.

Many large liners were used as troop transports or as hospital ships. The Mauritania became a troop transport while the Lusitania worked for the Cunard Line as a luxury liner carrying people from the UK to the US and back. The new Aquitania was converted into a hospital ship while the Olympic, White Star Line, and Mauritania moved troops into the Mediterranean.
"Lusitania"

However, the Admiralty continued to pay attention to the Cunard Line, stating that the Lusitania could be requisitioned at any time if hostilities escalated. In order to reduce operating costs for crossing the Atlantic, the Lusitania had reduced monthly flights and sealed 4 boilers. The maximum speed has now been reduced to 21 knots (39 km/h). But even in this mode of operation, the Lusitania was the fastest commercial passenger liner in the North Atlantic and 10 knots (19 km / h) faster than any submarine. However, the Lusitania has undergone many changes:
the ship's name was painted over,
a compass platform has been added to the roof of the bridge,
the pipes of the Lusitania were painted black instead of the colors of the Cunard Line,
a second compass platform was added between the first and second pipes,
two additional baggage cranes were installed in the aft deckhouse,
during her last journey she did not raise any flags.
David Doe, captain of the Lusitania .1915

On April 17, 1915, the Lusitania left Liverpool for her 201st transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on April 24 of that year. A group of German-Americans, hoping to avoid a discussion about whether the Lusitania would be attacked by German submarines, shared their concerns with representatives of the German Embassy in the United States. The German Embassy in the United States decided to warn passengers before their next flight not to take the Lusitania. The Imperial German Embassy printed a warning in fifty American newspapers, including New York ones.
The Lusitania left Pier 54 in New York at noon on Saturday, May 1, 1915.

On 5 and 6 May U-20 sank three ships, and the Royal Navy sent out a warning to all British ships: "Submarines active off the south coast of Ireland." Captain Turner received this message twice on May 6 and took all precautions: watertight doors were closed, all windows were battened down, the number of observers was doubled, all boats were uncovered and dumped overboard to speed up the evacuation of passengers in case of danger.
On Friday 7 May at 11:00 the Admiralty transmitted another message and Turner corrected course. He probably thought that the submarines should be on the open sea and would not come from the coast, and the Lusitania would be protected by proximity to land.
At 13:00, one of the sailors of the German submarine U-20 noticed a large four-tube vessel ahead. He informed Captain Walter Schwieger that he had spotted a large four-tube ship traveling at about 18 knots. The boat had little fuel and only one torpedo, the captain was about to return to base, as the boat noticed that the ship was slowly turning to starboard towards the boat.
The Lusitania was approximately 30 miles (48 km) from the Irish coast when she entered the fog and reduced her speed to 18 knots. She sailed to the port of Queenstown - now Cobh - in Ireland, which was 43 miles (70 km) away.
At 14:10 the lookout spotted an approaching torpedo from the starboard side. A moment later, the torpedo hit the starboard side under the bridge. The explosion sent a column of steel sheathing and water flying upwards, followed by a second, more powerful explosion that caused the Lusitania to list heavily to starboard.
The photo shows a reconstruction of the torpedo path from the words of an eyewitness.

The Lusitania's radio operator sent out a distress signal nonstop. Captain Turner gave the order to abandon ship. Water flooded the longitudinal compartments of the starboard side, causing a 15-degree list to starboard. The captain tried to turn the Lusitania to the Irish coast in the hope of putting it aground, but the ship did not obey the helm, as the torpedo explosion interrupted the steering steam lines. Meanwhile, the ship continued to move at a speed of 18 knots, which caused water to enter faster.
Woman rescued from the Lusitania, May 25, 1915

About six minutes later, the Lusitania's tank began to sink. The roll to starboard greatly complicates the launching of the lifeboats.
Pictured is Mr. Cooper, a Canadian journalist, with little Helen Smith, a six-year-old girl who lost both her parents in the Louisitania disaster.

A large number of lifeboats capsized while loading or were overturned by the movement of the ship as they touched the water. The Lusitania carried 48 lifeboats - more than enough for the entire crew and all passengers - but only six lifeboats were launched safely, all on the starboard side. Several collapsible lifeboats were washed off the deck as the liner sank into the water.
The youngest of the rescued from the ship

Despite the measures taken by Captain Turner, the liner did not reach the shore. Panic broke out on board. By 14:25 Captain Schwieger lowered the periscope and went to sea.
Mr Lane and Miss Williams, two rescued Americans

Captain Turner remained on the bridge until he was washed overboard with water. Being an excellent swimmer, he lasted three hours in the water.
Some rescued from the Lusitania

From the movement of the vessel, water entered the boiler rooms, some boilers exploded, including those under the third pipe, which caused it to collapse, while the rest of the pipes collapsed a little later.
Rescued passengers from the Lusitania.

The ship went about two miles (3 km) from the place of the torpedo attack to the place of death, leaving a trail of debris and people behind her. At 14:28, the Lusitania capsized with her keel up and sank.
Rescued from the Lusitania at Queenston.

The liner sank in 18 minutes 8 miles (13 km) from Kinsale. 1,198 people died, including almost a hundred children. The bodies of many of the victims were buried in Queenstown in Kinsale, the city near the site of the sinking of the Lusitania.
Disaster survivors arrive in Queenstown

On January 11, 2011, Audrey Pearle died at the age of 95, the last surviving passenger of the liner, who at the time of his death was only three months old.
Departure of castaways from Queenstown to London

Rescued passengers at Lime Street Station, Liverpool

The surviving officers of the Lusitania, from left to right: First Officer R. Jones, A. A. Besty, Junior Third Officer, Third Officer and J.P. Lewis, 1915

George V meets with the surviving crew of the Lusitania

Two men remove the crates containing the bodies of the victims from the rescue boat.

American casualties from the Lusitania, May 27, 1915

Divine service for the victims of the Lusitania at Westminster Cathedral in London. Service conducted by Cardinal Born

Burial of victims from the Lusitania. London, England 1915

Demonstration against the Germans on Tower Hill in London

Anti-German pogroms after the torpedoing of the Lusitania: many shops whose owners bore German surnames were destroyed. In the photo, the thugs are destroying the Schönfeld cigar warehouse. London, England 1915.

propaganda poster

German submarine U20 washed up on the coast of Denmark, believed to be the one that sank the Lusitania

Examining the wreck of the Lusitania in 1935. Jim Jarrett was the lead diver and dived to 312 feet.