The sinking of the German submarine Lusitania. The last voyage of the Lusitania. George V meets with the surviving crew of the Lusitania

A British transatlantic liner was torpedoed by a German submarine. 1198 people died.

At the end of the 19th century, the Bismarck Act was passed in Germany, according to which shipping companies serving colonial lines began to receive large state subsidies.

Taking advantage of the favorable situation and having huge support from the government, the German monopolists launched mighty high-speed liners, which one after another became the owners of the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic": "Deutschland", "Crown Prince Wilhelm", "Kaiser Wilhelm II", "Crown Princess Cecilia".

Naturally, England could not disregard the success of its competitor. When the offensive of the German transatlantic companies became especially aggressive, the British government decided to create new "prestigious" giant liners that would take away the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic from the Germans. In addition, Parliament and the Admiralty pinned special hopes on the new liners as potential warships.

In the contract concluded for the construction of two liners, later named "Mauritania" and "Lusitania" (1907), the government undertook to pay the Cunard Line company for the construction of two ships if their construction cost did not exceed 2 million 600 thousand pounds sterling . In addition to speed (a speed of at least 24.5 knots), the Lusitania and Mauritania had to meet the following conditions: if necessary, twelve 6-inch rapid-fire guns should be installed on the liners; the engine room should be located below the waterline and protected along the sides by coal bunkers. And - most importantly: none of the leading positions of the Kunard Line company could be occupied by foreign nationals.

The most significant innovation introduced on the Lusitania was the replacement of conventional piston engines. steam turbines. The liner had six turbines and four propellers. The extreme screws were driven by two high-pressure turbines, the middle ones - by two low-pressure turbines. Thanks to these giant turbines with a total capacity of 70,000 horsepower, the Lusitania reached a speed of 25 knots.

The transatlantic liner "Lusitania" - a four-pipe ship with a displacement of 38 thousand tons, a length of 240 meters, received in 1907 the right to be called the fastest steamship in the world. The ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 4 days 19 hours and 52 minutes, receiving the speed prize - the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic.

By the time the new Kunard giants appeared, the superstructure had already begun to be erected for almost the entire length of the vessel, which made it possible to significantly increase the volume of residential and public premises on the liners.

The excellent driving performance of the Lusitania can be judged at least by the fact that during her record-breaking voyage in 1909, she crossed the Atlantic in just four and a half days. The Lusitania calmly developed a speed of 20 knots. This was admired by passengers, a quarter of a million people in her eight years of service she transported across the North Atlantic.

In 1914 the First World War began. The Lusitania continued to make regular transatlantic flights, although such work of the liner during the war years was no less dangerous than military service.

Immediately after the start of the war, the German cruiser tried to capture the Lusitania and even transmitted an order over the radio: “The ship has been captured. Follow me". The captain of the Lusitania responded to this hasty attack with a very simple decision - to develop maximum speed and get away from the cruiser. This decision was a success. The cruiser soon lost sight of the Lusitania. The speed of 27 knots was beyond its capabilities. Namely, this speed was shown by the transatlantic liner.

The case was publicized. Many were sure that the Lusitania was not in danger even in wartime. That is why she was considered the true pride of the Atlantic.

In the spring of 1915, passers-by and onlookers, as well as those who saw off friends or relatives on a long journey, admired the four-pipe colossus, not suspecting that this time a situation awaited him, which can only be expressed using the words “tragedy” and “mystery”.

It happened in New York, at the pier of one of the English shipping companies. Everything is ready for the long-haul flight to England. On this day, May 1, 1915, almost the richest man in the world appears on board. His name is Alfred Vanderbilt. He is a passionate fan of equestrian sports, in love with racing and racehorses, which he evaluates impeccably, forcing both amateurs and professionals to listen to his opinion. In London, despite the hardships of war, an exhibition of racehorses was organized. Vanderbilt is wearing a strict black frock coat, he sedately climbs the gangway, goes, accompanied by a fight, to the central saloon of the steamer. He is in the spotlight.

A telegram is brought to him: “It is known from certain sources that the Lusitania will be torpedoed. Stop sailing immediately."

Telegram without a signature. Her text will be printed in the New York newspapers in the morning, when the Lusitania will no longer be at the pier: she will sail in the evening. And Vanderbilt will sit comfortably in a spacious cabin, remembering the incident with the strange dispatch. How could he believe that there was a ship or submarine that could catch up with the pride of the Atlantic?

Germany was interested in undermining the military power of its opponents. The German submariners were tasked with sinking the Lusitania.

But the owners of Cunard Line were not afraid of the threats. And the Lusitania was calmly preparing for the next flight on the New York - Liverpool route. In the late Georgian 1st class saloon, the mahogany mosaic panels were freshly polished. The heavy velvet curtains were carefully brushed. Nine freshly painted Muses smiled from the vault of the 1st class dining room in the style of Louis XVI.

The variety of cargoes that came on board made the Lusitania look more like an ordinary tramp steamer. Her cargo list included: sheet bronze, copper, mechanisms from Boston, food, several bales of skins, etc. Also taken on board were 4,200 cases of rifle ammunition, over a hundred cases of empty shrapnel cups and unloaded remote tubes. In general, the cargo of the Lusitania was estimated modestly - at 750 thousand dollars. Although, according to rumors, the ship was loaded with 6 million dollars of gold bullion, which were locked in one of the strong pantries on the lower deck, but this fact was not reflected in the ship's manifest.

The Lusitania was comfortable. Passengers had a children's room, a diet kitchen for babies, an infirmary with a doctor and nurses, as well as elevators, rooms for dogs and other pets, telephones and electric signal lights, and rooms for maids and servants. Arched doorways, candelabra, mahogany inlays, damask sofas, deep and comfortable armchairs, hanging conservatories and potted palms all created an elegant and homely atmosphere. The Lusitania also boasted other innovations, such as electric steering control, remote closing of watertight doors, automatic fire alarms, and electric davits for quickly launching lifeboats. The Lusitania, having a double bottom and reliable watertight compartments, was considered unsinkable ...

And the name of the captain spoke for itself: William Turner. Fifty-year-old Turner, as captain-commodore of the Cunard Company and captain "number two" in the English merchant marine, had the right to command the company's new liners on their first voyages across the Atlantic. In 1910, he stepped onto the bridge of the Mauritania and broke his own speed record set on the Lusitania. His first voyage on the Aquitaine on the first voyage in 1913 also ended in triumph. He took over the Lusitania from his old friend Watt and soon became one of the most famous captains in North Atlantic, who was hated and respected by his German rivals ...

On April 30 in Boston, wealthy shoe salesman Edward B. Bowen telephoned his transport agent that he and his wife were not riding the Lusitania tomorrow. “I have a growing feeling that something must happen to the Lusitania,” he told his friends. “We discussed this with Mrs Bowen and decided to cancel the trip, although I have important business meetings in London.”

At noon on May 1, a pilot's flag was raised on signal lines from the bridge, and an American flag was raised over the narrow stern bridge. There were 702 crew members and 1257 passengers on the ship. Four steam turbines roared in the hold. At 12.30, the Lusitania was taken away from the pier.

In three minutes the Lusitania was in the middle of the river. Three tugboats pulled the transatlantic liner until they turned it exactly downstream. The departure of the Lusitania was always a magnificent sight and took place with a large crowd of people on the pier. Thus began the last voyage of this giant, 240 meters long, liner.

On the second day of the voyage, towards noon, Captain Turner visited the ship's chapel in the main saloon, where he offered a prayer for the health of the king and all those at sea.

Despite the active actions of the German submarines, Turner was calm: the Lusitania could get away from any German ship, except, perhaps, cruisers. On board were citizens of neutral states, she was unarmed and did not carry military cargo. And although the Lusitania belonged to the reserve auxiliary vessels, the Admiralty refused to use it as an auxiliary cruiser ...

In addition, German submarines had not yet appeared in the Atlantic; they stayed in the seas, in the bays, near the coasts. Quite naturally, the first days of the voyage were calm.

So, the Lusitania set off on a voyage on May 1, and the day before, in the predawn hour, she left her berth in Emden german boat U-20. The thirty-two-year-old boat commander Schwieger was given a specific task: to sink any enemy transport vessel.

On May 5, while in the Old Head of Kinsale area, the commander of the submarine U-20 saw the large schooner Earl of Latham in the east, which was carrying a cargo of Irish bacon, eggs and potatoes to Liverpool. Having spent eight shells, U-20 sent the ship to the bottom.

The Lusitania at that time was 500 miles from the Irish coast and military zone. By order of Turner, the sailors uncovered and dumped the lifeboats overboard so that, in the event of a surprise attack, passengers could take their seats. Life-saving equipment was designed for 2,605 people, which was more than 600 seats more than the number of people on board the Lusitania. There was also an additional number of life jackets and life buoys. By sunrise, 22 boats were already hanging on the hoists.

In the evening, a messenger handed Captain Turner a radio message from the British Admiralty stating that U-boats had activated off south coast Ireland. Less than an hour later, a new message was received: German submarines were at the Fastnet cliffs. The captain took every precaution. All the doors in the watertight bulkheads that were in use at the time were bolted shut. The deck officers checked out the observation posts. In the afternoon, the number of lookouts was doubled. The engine room received an order to breed the steam to the limit and, at the first signal, develop the maximum speed.

On the morning of May 7, about 25 miles from Cape Clear at the southwestern tip of Ireland, the Lusitania entered a band of fog.

By eight o'clock in the morning the fog thickened, and Turner signaled to the car to reduce speed to 15 knots. The ship kept heading east, still giving bugle signals. Passengers peered anxiously into the mist.

The Lusitania passed the Fastnet Rocks, located off Cape Clear, about 20 miles seaward. Fog made it impossible to determine the exact location of the vessel.

At 11 o'clock in the morning the fog finally dissipated and the weather was clear and warm. Turner ordered the speed to be increased to 18 knots. The course of the ship remained the same.

The Admiralty sent a warning of submarines ahead of the Lusitania's course, 20 miles south of the lightship Koningberg, between Waterford and St. George's Channel. Turner was forced to change course and take 20 degrees north of the previous course. The ship headed for the coast of Ireland.

Soon, watchmen on the bridge noticed the shore. It was Galley Head. Irish coast. At 1:30 p.m., trees, roof tops, and church spiers could be discerned as they drifted slowly to the left.

At 13.40 the shore of the cape Old Head of Kinsale opened. The captain had to avoid the protruding ends of the coast and, according to the instructions of the Admiralty, pass the ports at full speed. But if you increase the speed, then the ship will arrive at the Liverpool coast before the onset of high water, and then you will have to maneuver before the mouth of the River Mersey for several hours. Therefore, in order not to go around dangerously close to the sandy islands of Salti, stretching at a considerable distance from the coast west of the entrance into St. George's Strait, Turner again changed course to starboard, and now the Lusitania followed almost due east.

The captain ordered to determine the exact location of the vessel by the traverse distance to the cape of Old Head of Kinsale. To do this, the Lusitania had to follow a strictly constant course and a constant speed for forty minutes. Although in dangerous waters instructed to go in a zigzag course, Turner believed that the anti-submarine zigzag should be used only if a submarine was detected. The liner was sailing 10 miles from the coast at a constant speed of 18 knots.

For the commander of the U-20 submarine, this was a real gift. Lieutenant Commander Schwieger had already located the "large passenger steamer" and was now preparing to strike.

On May 7, between 14.09 and 14.10, the command was heard: “Pli!” Lieutenant Commander Schwieger noted in the report: “A clean bow shot from a distance of 700 meters is a torpedo "G" with a given recess of 3 m at an angle of 90 °. Set speed is 22 knots.

Sailor Leslie Morton, looking forward on the forecastle of the Lusitania, noticed from the starboard side a traitorous white stripe in the water, rushing towards the ship. He shouted at the bridge through a megaphone: "Torpedoes from the starboard side!"

Second mate P. Hefford, hearing Morton's cry, repeated: "A torpedo is coming, sir!"

Captain Turner, who at that time was studying the cape of Old Head of Kinsale from the left wing of the lower bridge, managed to take only one step to the middle of the bridge, where the helmsman was standing, as the ship was shaken by an explosion ...

At 14 hours 10 minutes, Schwieger wrote in his journal: “... the blow fell on the starboard side immediately behind the bridge. An unusually strong detonation is accompanied by a very large (above the first chimney) explosive cloud. In addition to the torpedo explosion, there was obviously a second explosion (boiler, coal or gunpowder). The superstructure and bridge over the bridge of impact shattered, and the resulting flames engulfed the high bridge. The vessel immediately stopped and received a strong roll to starboard and a trim on the bow ... "

Captain Turner, after being hit by a torpedo that pierced the ship's steel plating a thickness of 7 /8 inch, felt the ship shudder from a terrible explosion. The center of the explosion fell on boiler rooms No. 1 and 2, which were completely flooded. Both coal bunkers were also destroyed by the explosion.

The deck seemed to lift underfoot and then sag again. A column of water and steam burst out with a roar, along with pieces of coal, pieces of wood and steel fragments, which, shot up 160 feet above the radio antenna, fell to the deck.

The consequences of the explosions were terrible. In the side, just below the waterline, a hole was formed, where the locomotive could freely pass. Hundreds of tons of water rushed inside the ship. A few moments after the explosion, there was an incredible roar in the Lusitania's engine room: the heavily damaged steam turbine was not stopped in time. These sounds were muffled by the whistle and hiss of steam escaping to freedom (the main steam line was interrupted), the Lusitania lost its course and was no longer controlled. Turner, who expected to throw the ship on a sandbank near Cape Kinsale, visible 10 miles to the northeast, realized that the Lusitania was doomed. But, knowing the excellent design and excellent seaworthiness of the liner, designed for the simultaneous flooding of two compartments, Turner believed that he would stay afloat for at least an hour, and this would allow launching boats and saving people. But in reality things were worse. Immediately after the explosion, the ship began to list to starboard and go under the water with its bow.

Coxswain Hugh Robert Johnston watched the inclinometer. Immediately after the explosion, the instrument showed a constant roll of about 15 degrees to starboard. There was also hope that the Lusitania would not list any more. In addition, the ship continued to move towards the shore. The Irish hills were becoming clearer. If the Lusitania had held out for at least an hour, then Turner could have tried to land the ship aground. However, after four minutes, the inclinometer already showed 20 degrees of list to starboard. The ship was sinking rapidly.

Radio operator Robert Leith almost mechanically tapped into the air: “Come at once. Big roll. Ten miles south of Old Head of Kinsale." He repeated this over and over again, adding the MSU Lusitania call letters to the text. At the same time, he noted that the power supply in the ship's electrical network is weakening.

The signal from the Lusitania was received by many radio stations at once. “Launch all boats! Women and children first! - there was a command.

In the confusion during the launching of two boats, the officers made an irreparable mistake. They did not take into account that the ship still continues to move forward by inertia, and as soon as the boats touched the water, they turned around, hit the steel side of the liner with force and capsized. Most of the people who were in them ended up in the water ...

The roll increased rapidly. Seven minutes after the torpedo hit, it reached 30 degrees. Because of this, the boats of the left side fell on the deck, and it was impossible to move them and lower them on the davits into the water. Landing from the lower decks in the boats from the starboard side was practically excluded: the boats hung vertically on the hoists, and with an increasing roll, the side at the waterline went further and further away from them ...

It was impossible to launch the twenty remaining boats into the water. Twenty-six collapsible boats were also useless - it took at least half an hour to prepare and launch them. There were no wooden life rafts that could simply be thrown into the water on the Lusitania. Out of 2,400 life jackets, no more than five hundred were distributed to passengers, the team did not really know where they were stored. All this could not but cause panic among the passengers. Almost two thousand people were on board the Lusitania at the time of the disaster.

According to reports, out of 48 lifeboats, including 22 conventional and 26 collapsible, only 6 were successfully launched.

Passengers remaining on board for the most part the men were trying to gather the children, many of whom were probably trapped downstairs. The Reverend Father Basil Maturin, pale but calm, absolved those whom he saw in front of him and who transferred children to lifeboats.

And the main culprit of the tragedy - the submarine U-20 went into almost grave silence, broken only by the muffled hum of electric motors. Lieutenant Commander Schwieger noted in his log: “The ship is about to capsize. Great confusion on board. The boats have been thrown out, and some of them have been launched. They must have lost their heads. The crowded boats were lowered bow or stern down and therefore immediately filled with water and sank. Due to the heel, a smaller part of the boats were lowered. The ship is sinking. On board, the name "Lusitania" became distinguishable, made in gold letters. The chimneys are painted black. Does not carry a stern flag. It was going at a speed of 20 knots ... "

At 15.25, the commander of the German submarine made the last entry: “Obviously, the ship will not stay afloat for long. I dive to a depth of 24 meters and go into the sea. I could not fire a second torpedo into this crowd of living people trying to escape.

Captain Turner, who was swimming in the water, clinging to the oar, saw how the huge Lusitania perished. He knew why the ship, after a torpedo strike, listed so terribly. Paradoxically, the reason was its excessive water resistance. Despite 175 hermetically sealed watertight compartments, the flow of water on the starboard and port sides was not uniform. Just before the end, thousands of tons of water apparently broke through the longitudinal bulkheads that act as containment dams, and the ship straightened out. The asymmetry of filling led to the loss of a large number of lifeboats.

18 minutes have passed. The Lusitania began to list rapidly to starboard. Hundreds of people, like peas, fell from the decks into the water. On top of them, one after another, twenty-meter pipes began to collapse. The bow of the hull was half hidden under water. The giant ship shuddered last time, turned over with a shiny black keel, lifted the stern up 70 meters and a few seconds later disappeared into the lead waters of the Atlantic. On the surface of the ocean there were several boats crowded with people, wooden debris and those who knew how to swim or who got a life jacket ... Most of the passengers of the 3rd class were buried alive in their cabins.

The broadcast SOS was received by radio stations along the coast of Ireland and by ships in the vicinity. The American tanker Narragansett, the English ships Etonian and City of Exeter, and the English cruiser Juno, commanded by Admiral Hood, went to the rescue. But all these ships did not have to reach the place indicated in the distress signal: German submarines appeared, and the rescuers preferred to leave. Stronger nerves turned out to be with the captain of the Greek cargo steamer Katarina, who, ignoring the periscopes seen from the water, rescued people from several boats of the Lusitania. The real rescuers were fishermen from the coast of Ireland and several tugboats. The Indiana Empire and Kolk trawlers rescued 200 people, the Stormcock tug - 160, the Flying tug - 100, and the Elizabeth motorboat - 79 people. The rest were taken off the boats by fishing boats.

The captain of the Lusitania, William Turner, was on duty until the moment the ship capsized aboard. The captain turned out to be a good swimmer: he kept afloat without a life jacket for several hours. He owed his salvation to the captain's stripes on the sleeve of his tunic. When the forces left Turner and he began to sink, one of the fishermen from the motorboat noticed the shine of the captain's stripes ...

The rescued were taken to Queenstown. They were almost one and a half times less than the dead. The famous American writer Foreman, the English director Frohman, the playwright Klein, the English oceanographer Stackhouse, and the American billionaire Alfred Vanderbilt died.

Consul Frost, shocked by what he saw, reported: “This night, by the light of gas lamps, we saw a terrible line of rescue ships unloading the living and the dead. Vessels began to approach at about 8 o'clock and continued to arrive at short intervals until almost 11 o'clock at night. Vessel after vessel emerged out of the darkness, and at times two or three of them could be discerned, waiting in line in the cloudy night to unload bruised, shuddering women, maimed and half-dressed men, wide-eyed small children, few in number…”

Of the 1,959 on board the Lusitania, 1,198 died, including 785 passengers. Of the 159 American citizens, 124 died. Of the 129 children, 94 died, including 35 babies, of whom almost all (but four) died.

The bodies were dumped on the pier in the Irish city of Queenstown. Under the flickering light of kerosene lamps, men and women searched among the dead for their loved ones. Volunteers carried unidentified bodies to makeshift morgues, which were later buried in three mass graves.

The Americans were enraged by the attack, which claimed the lives of 123 compatriots. Newspapers called the torpedoing a "premeditated assassination" and "a dastardly act" and politicians, including the future President Roosevelt, demanded retaliatory action against Germany.

British justice placed all the blame for the tragedy on the commander of the submarine. However, the German government accused British officials of using the liner for illegal military purposes - which, however, they never managed to prove. Some Americans with German sympathies theorized that the British Admiralty deliberately set the Lusitania up in the hope that she would be attacked and thus the United States would be drawn into the war.

Later, some analysts accused Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, of developing this plan, citing as evidence a quotation from a letter he wrote before the disaster, which states how important it would be "to attract to our shores the ships of neutral states, especially the United States, in the hope of quarreling them with Germany. However, other researchers deny that Churchill could have been so cynical and cite warnings sent to the Lusitania by the Admiralty immediately before her death.

Taking with me the life belts lying in my cabin, I rushed to upper deck. At the same time, I hardly managed to open the door of the cabin, which turned out to be littered with some debris. It felt like the ship was heeling. Something indescribable was happening on deck.

The bright sun illuminated the ship and about a thousand distraught people, rushing from one side to the other. The crew of the ship was confused despite the fact that the captain, standing on the bridge, gave orders until the last minute; passengers themselves rushed to the lifeboats ...

When I found myself on the surface of the water, the huge ship disappeared, and black dots of people floated around in the vast expanse. In the distance, the vague outlines of the coast of Ireland were visible. The sun was warm, but it was cold in the water." - Only two hours later, which, as the witness of the disaster recalls, he spent "in a terrible stupor", the rescue ship approached.

Note that we are not talking about the sinking of the Titanic. A brilliant film version of the famous maritime disaster it is difficult to compare with the stingy and unsophisticated description of events that we reprinted from a Russian journal of 1915. But then, in the days of the death of the huge English passenger ship Lusitania, the world community was literally in a fever from conflicting rumors, assumptions and conjectures. Name shipwreck bowed and conjugated on the pages of newspapers, in government memorandums and ... diplomatic notes.

What happened? The death of the ship seems mysterious, moreover, it seems that until now in England government documents on the "case" of the Lusitania are a strict state secret. And yet we will try to open its veil.

"A large English liner with Americans on board may be sunk"

Eighteen minutes after the explosion, the Lusitania was completely submerged. Of the 1,959 people on board the Lusitania, 1,198 died. According to an official statement by representatives of the British government, on board passenger ship there were no weapons, ammunition and military sailors. The sinking of the Lusitania was called one of the most tragic events of the First World War. The English journalist K. Simpson has long been interested in the "case" of the Lusitania.

The circumstances of her death, the abundance of carefully fabricated data, wrote K. Simpson, convinced him that the traditional version of the disasters of the Lusitania contains "fundamental omissions and obvious inaccuracies." According to Simpson, documents found in the archives of the British steamship company Cunard Lines, as well as in the US government archives, force the Lusitania "case" to be reconsidered.

On May 1, 1915, exactly on schedule, the Lusitania put to sea for the last time from the pier in the port of New York. In the early morning, the assistant captain of the Lusitania traditionally met passengers at the gangway. On the pier, in addition to rare passengers, he saw a crowd of reporters. They showed the English sailor the morning edition of the New York Tribune.

Among the paid advertisements in the newspaper stood out an ominous warning: the Americans were not recommended to use the services of British passenger liners because of the possibility of an attack by German submarines. As follows from the text, the announcement was placed by the German embassy. There was growing anxiety on the pier. But the representative of the Cunard company reassured everyone who stood with the tickets at the side of the Lusitania. "The liner of our company has been and remains the most fast ship in the Atlantic. And no German warship or submarine simply can catch up with the Lusitania.

In the afternoon, the Lusitania put to sea. The captain of the Lusitania, Turner, took his usual place on the captain's bridge. Turner was an experienced sailor, but now, in wartime, the sailors of the merchant marine had to obey the orders of the naval officers of the Admiralty. Navy sailors determined the course of merchant ships and reported secret information about enemy submarines. British naval intelligence could determine exactly where the German submarine sent to carry out a combat mission was located on the high seas. The British received the secret radio codes of the German fleet. Radio stations on the coast of England waited patiently while German submariners, who were on the high seas, gave radio signals with meticulous accuracy.

But Captain Turner was not given a warning about German submarines either in the port of New York, where the officer of the British navy was located, or off the coast of Ireland, where the Lusitania entered the coverage area of ​​coastal radio stations. And only on the evening of May 6, Turner received a radiogram: "A German submarine is located off the southern coast of Ireland."

But the radiogram was not transmitted by the naval command, but by Admiral Coke, commander of the anti-submarine flotilla: he roughly determined the area of ​​\u200b\u200boperation of the submarine after he received reports of the death of two small steamers. Coke knew that the Lusitania was approaching the submarine. But the admiral could not put the anti-submarine flotilla into the sea without an order from the Admiralty, and such an order was not received.

Captain Turner received a radio message as the liner was approaching St. George's Sound. And in peaceful days, the strait was a serious test even for experienced sailors, and in the days of the war it became doubly dangerous: at the entrance to the strait, German submariners lay in wait for prey. But Captain Turner could not change the course of the ship without an order from an Admiralty officer or, in extreme cases, from the commander of a warship.

The only thing he could do was to alert everything life-saving appliances, remove the lights, batten down the windows. The captain went down to the salon, where the lights were bright and music was playing, and, trying not to raise his voice, told the passengers that the possibility of enemy submarines could not be ruled out. “But we are sure,” the captain added, “that we will not be left alone, because the Royal Navy is guarding us ...” These were not empty words: off the coast of Ireland, at Cape Fastnet Rock, Atlantic liners usually expected escort English cruisers.

At dawn on 7 May there was thick fog. Captain Turner slowed down and ordered the siren to sound to warn the warships of the liner's approach. But there was not a single battleship of the Royal Navy nearby.

In the Admiralty, in the office of Minister of the Navy W. Churchill, there was a huge map. The officers on duty continuously moved the signs that indicated the path of each German submarine detected using intelligence data and radio intercepts. In official English historical works, an exceptionally high assessment of the activities of British intelligence is given: "She read the thoughts of the German command and foresaw the movement of ships of the enemy fleet."

It is interesting to note that the secret ciphers of the German fleet were handed over to the British by the Russian naval command: the ciphers were found on the German cruiser Magdeburg, which was sunk after a battle with ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet. Divers entered the command cabin and retrieved secret documents.

There is no doubt that Churchill represented what the Lusitania meant to England, one of the largest and fastest ships. The Admiralty received messages from America, which should be called very disturbing. German diplomats and German-Americans, whose close ties to German intelligence were not in doubt, Lately warned the Americans that British transatlantic liners would be attacked by homeboats. The editor of the newspaper of the German community in the United States, who often carried out the instructions of the German military attache in the United States, literally stated the following: English liner with the Americans on board, may be sunk."

But the British Admiralty and the energetic Minister Churchill, far from stepping up security measures, showed a strange nonchalance. The captain of the Lusitania didn't get a warning warships didn't go to sea...

In the very first reports of the German telegraph agency and newspapers about the sinking of the Lusitania, it was emphasized that the English liner was not literally a passenger ship, because the English ship was carrying explosives from America. In those days, one could read that the Lusitania was actually an auxiliary cruiser of the Royal Navy and carried heavy artillery on board.

Representatives of the Admiralty called the allegations about the guns installed on the Lusitania slander. But they did not answer a direct question: whether there were dangerous military materials on board the passenger ship. And only a few weeks later, an unconditional version of the “exclusively peaceful nature of the Lusitania’s cargo” was established in British statements. "boxes with rifle cartridges and unfilled, empty blanks for shrapnel shells."

K. Simpson checked all types of cargo that were in the hold of the Lusitania. "The strange cargo - 3800 boxes lined with canvas - cargo marked as packages with cheese. The documents name the sender of this strange cargo - US citizen A. Fraser. His the name appears frequently on New York port records and was on the list of the largest importers of goods from the US in 1915. But further verification showed that before the war, Fraser was an insolvent debtor. the British formalized the export of military materials from the United States, primarily explosives produced at the factories of the DuPont company.

Considering the sinking Lusitania, the submarine commander immediately noticed thick smoke and severe damage to the deck and superstructures. German sailors suggested that the explosion of the torpedo caused the detonation of coal dust or ... the explosion of a significant amount of ammunition that was in the hold near the coal bunkers. This view has become generally accepted in Germany. Subsequently, the Minister of the Navy Tirpitz noted in his memoirs the following reason for the failure of the Lusitania: "... The immediate death of the Lusitania was caused by a second explosion of ammunition loaded into the holds."

The official British version unequivocally stated that the Lusitania was lost as a result of the explosion of two German torpedoes. The "Royal Commission of Inquiry", which is traditionally created in England to determine the causes of major disasters, admitted in its final document that there was no ammunition on board the passenger ship. Responsibility for the death of a passenger ship was assigned to the command of the German naval forces, which allowed submarine captains to attack peaceful ships without warning.

But the integrity of the commission was far from flawless. All arguments that questioned the accepted version were rejected in advance. The Commission did not take into account the testimony of the Lusitania passenger, Canadian professor J. Marechal. According to him, after the torpedo exploded, he heard a second explosion, accompanied by the sound of exploding ammunition; Maréchal made the last statement on the basis of his experience gained in military service.

But British government officials said that Marechal could not be trusted that he was brought to trial for forgery and fraud: the commission was given information about the namesake of a Canadian professor who really was a dark person. And this was not the only case. Subsequently, Lord Mersey, chairman of the Royal Commission, admitted that the Lusitania case was a "dirty story."

However, during the First World War, only a few specialists, experts in naval weapons, could appreciate the main mistake of the commission of inquiry: even two torpedoes could not sink a huge ship in a matter of minutes!

The torpedoes used by the German submarines were relatively imperfect. Could such a torpedo make a hole in the side of the Lusitania, into which, as eyewitnesses of the events said, "a locomotive could pass"?

In 1918, the huge English steamer Justicia was attacked by submarines. And although the very first torpedo caused serious damage, the Giustishia stayed afloat for about a day, and during this time the German submariners repeated the torpedo attack several times. The German sailors were certain that the Giustishia had been sunk by six torpedoes of the same type used in 1915.

Contemporaries remembered the events of May 7, 1915 as a crime committed by German militarists.

But things were different...

The Lusitania project was created in the United States in 1902, when the American banker Morgan proposed that British shipowners build, with the participation of American capital, huge ships that would bring to life the latest achievements of science and technology. The maritime giants would allow profitable Passenger Transportation on the Atlantic lines. But enterprising American bankers violated the secret plans of the British Admiralty.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the maritime rivalry between England and Germany reached its highest limit. England built a huge navy. While creating new warships, the Admiralty at the same time secretly subsidized private English shipping companies: according to the plans of military sailors, passenger ships were turned into transports and auxiliary cruisers in the first days of the war. The admirals demanded to stop negotiations with American bankers and at the same time offered to conclude a profitable agreement: the government would provide subsidies for the construction of huge liners. The only condition is that in the event of war, the ships are placed at the disposal of the Royal Navy.

This is how the famous liners of the Cunard company - Lusitania and Mauritania - appeared. The "sister ships" were equipped with steam turbines, which made it possible to reach speeds unprecedented for those years. The new liner's displacement of over 31,000 tons and a speed of at least 25 knots surpassed those of the latest warships of that time, battleships.

Since 1907, the Lusitania has been making regular flights between Liverpool and New York. R. Kipling enthusiastically spoke about the new ships: "The captain only has to take the helm - the city will float into the sea in nine decks ..." Passengers soon appreciated the speed and comfort of the new ships.

In the first week of the war, in 1914, platforms for guns and hoists for shells were installed aboard the Lusitania. But soon the Lusitania returns to Liverpool. The flag of the merchant fleet remained on her mast.

In preparation for the war, the Admiralty, led by the self-confident Churchill, made serious mistakes: the Admiralty was sure that the main threat to British ships came from the German surface fleet, including hastily armed merchant ships.

But Germany used submarines against the English merchant fleet. Losses grew at an alarming rate. It was soon discovered that the English army and navy were expending vast amounts of ammunition; industry could not cope with the plans for military production. The government decided to purchase military materials from the United States, but cargo steamers were attacked by submarines.

It was in such an environment that the Admiralty remembered the "largest and fastest" liners. A prominent official of the Admiralty met with the president of the Kunard company. He explained that the Lusitania would carry out a "special assignment from the government." " Regular flights will be accompanied by the carriage of cargo of particular importance to Britain. The cargo space in the hold will be expanded and transferred to the disposal of the Admiralty. The Cunard continues to carry passengers and carefully hides the presence of "special cargo".

There is every reason to assume that the Kunard management knew what was hidden under the neutral designation "special cargo". With the participation of the Cunard company in the United States, explosives were bought, which were transported to New York, to port warehouses. Payment was made through bank accounts "Kunard".

In June 1915, the Austrian-Hungarian embassy in the United States sent a "confidential letter" to the US State Department. Austrian diplomats showed in detail how the explosives of the American chemical concern DuPont were loaded aboard the Lusitania into the bow hold rooms. They were forty-pound boxes lined with linen, looking like packages of cheese. This shipment belonged to the American Fraser...

All eyewitnesses to the sinking of the Lusitania pointed to two explosions. The second explosion was disproportionate in strength with the first: a few minutes after the second explosion, the bow of the Lusitania plunged into the water, and the stern rose to the height of a multi-storey building. A torpedo from a German submarine hit the bow of the liner, where there was a "special cargo" - boxes lined with canvas ...

In one of the letters from the Austrian-Hungarian embassy, ​​details were given that suggest how and when Austrian intelligence (it is possible that on behalf of the German government) learned about the transportation of ammunition on the ships of the Cunard company.

Therefore, upon learning of the sinking of the Lusitania, the Austrian consul von Retegg was seriously shocked and agreed with the arguments of the Austrian diplomats, who asked him to make a statement certified by an American lawyer, which directly stated that the cause of the death of American citizens was an explosion of ammunition in the hold of a passenger ship.

Are English mistakes accidental? And is it possible to call their actions erroneous?

It turned out that the technical means of combating submarines used by the fleet are clearly insufficient. Therefore, the question is legitimate: could the Admiralty, headed by Churchill, fulfill its tasks of defending the country? And, perhaps, it was precisely the "political solution of the problem" that saved not only Churchill, but also the Cabinet of Ministers from a shameful resignation ...

In the spring of 1915, the personal representative of the President of the United States, Colonel House, appears in London. He was supposed to explain US policy to the British government. British Foreign Secretary Gray receives House at his home. Gray asked frank questions, the essence of which boiled down to the following: what will "Uncle Sam" do if a German submarine sinks an ocean liner with Americans on board? House replied that resentment would sweep America. Gray agreed: yes, there are many moralists in America, but what political response will follow from the government and the president? And House admits that this will be enough to "engage us in a war."

Indeed, the death of 115 US citizens in the U-20 attack on the Lusitania provoked strong American protests. The demonstrators carried anti-German slogans and demanded that Germany be punished. The US government sent an official note to Berlin. The German government was forced to limit submarine warfare: from June 6, 1915, German submarines were forbidden to attack large passenger ships.

The break in the submarine war was not long, it was terminated in February 1916, but during this time the Entente countries, primarily England, saved 1,600,000 tons of merchant fleet tonnage, that is, about five hundred steamships.

The Lusitania was well known in America. And if we take into account that on the eve of the sinking of the Lusitania, House had to bring to the attention of the British government a list of repressive measures that would be America's response to the British detention of American ships with "peaceful" cargo for Germany, one can understand what a gift of fate was for British politicians torpedo the German submarine U-20.

However, the British "grand strategy" made full use of the coincidence of interests and long-term plans of England and the United States. President Wilson was preparing for war, but he was careful not to make militaristic statements: elections were approaching, and among ordinary Americans there were many supporters of peace and US neutrality. In 1915, President Wilson needed an excuse to justify America's military preparations.

On May 11, 1915, while Wilson's cabinet was debating the text of Germany's note of protest over the sinking of the Lusitania, Secretary of State Brian issued a strong condemnation of the president's policies. He emphasized that back in early May, the president had been provided with reliable information about the transportation of ammunition by ships of British companies. According to Brian, there was a gross violation of US neutrality.

But the puritanical directness of Brian, a pacifist and opponent of alcoholic beverages, irritated Wilson, and when discussing a note of protest, he delivers a "knockout blow." Bryan's objections are rejected, and he was presented as "a defender of the German militarists committing barbaric acts against civilians." Brian resigns. His post is occupied by Lansing, an active supporter of rapprochement with England.

These changes did not go unnoticed in America: evaluating the president's policy, the New York Times published a cartoon - Wilson is trying to play the Americans a new song, "Here's your rifle, Johnny."

Further events in the United States resembled a film about the life of gangsters. Unidentified persons raided the Austrian-Hungarian consulate in Cleveland, where the testimony of engineer von Retheg and other documents about the sinking of the Lusitania were kept. Soon, von Retegh himself had to stand trial: he was accused of forging a check and sentenced to prison.

And only at the end of the 20th century, documents were found in the archives of the US federal services that allow us to conclude that the secret service of the US Department of Justice was directly related to these "strange events" ...

The administration of President Wilson was well aware of the behind-the-scenes side of the Lusitania affair. All documents were placed in an archive with a warning label "Only for the President of the United States."

One gets the impression that in England, too, government documents on the "case" of the Lusitania are still a strict state secret.

In April 1982, the ship "Merwig" of the Scottish company "Oshering", which carries out complex underwater work using unique equipment, approached the site of the sinking of the Lusitania. An underwater manipulator was launched from the ship - a small remotely controlled submarine. The survey of the site of the sinking of the Lusitania was conceived as a promotional event that was supposed to show the capabilities of the new technology.

The preliminary result of the survey exceeded all expectations: underwater cameras showed that the bow compartments of the sunken liner were cleared of debris, and the cargo hatch cover was torn off. When the underwater manipulator slowly descended into the hold, the specialists could not contain their astonishment: on the screen, according to them, an image of the ship's inner plating appeared with deep longitudinal grooves that the bucket leaves for lifting sunken objects and cargo. "It's hard to imagine, but the hold of the Lusitania is swept like a living room," said one of the journalists who took part in the search.

An underwater photograph showed that in the region of the port side of the Lusitania, a huge hole was visible in the bow plating. Explosives experts concluded that there was a " powerful explosion". The British press reported that the specialists of the Oceaning company, after a detailed examination of the Lusitania, came to the conclusion that all evidence that could establish what kind of cargo was in the bow hold of the Lusitania was destroyed after the death of the ship.

According to information received from British journalists, the Irish Coast Guard reported that an auxiliary vessel of the British Navy stopped at the crash site in 1946 for a long time, and subsequently a ship appeared at the site of the Lusitania's death, which carried out underwater work. However, representatives of "Osharing" admitted that they were not ignored by the government of Her Majesty.

Officials correctly but very firmly recalled that there is indisputable evidence that during the last tragic flight The Lusitania had no explosives on board the famous passenger liner, with the exception of not very dangerous rifle cartridges ...

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 power plant The Cunard Line installed a smaller version of the turbine on their ship the Carmania in 1905 to see if the technology could be used.

The keel of the Lusitania was laid down at the John Brown & Co. shipyard in Clydebank 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, the Lusitania and Mauritania repeatedly took away the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic from each other. 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 such large liners were found 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 his last trip 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 William Turner 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 remained, return to base, bypassing Ireland from the east side. But here on U-20 they noticed that the Lusitania was slowly turning to starboard towards the boat.

Doom

The death of the Lusitania

The Lusitania was about 30 miles (48 km) off the Irish coast when she hit 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.

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 turned public opinion in many countries against Germany and contributed to the entry of the United States into World War I 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 to remain so until the commissioning of the "Mauritania" in November of that 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.

May 7, 1915 a huge four-pipe English passenger ship LUZITANIA , which was making a regular scheduled flight from New York to Liverpool, was suddenly attacked by a German submarine U-20 off the south coast of Ireland. Eighteen minutes after the explosionLUZITANIA completely submerged in water. Of the 1959 people on board, 1198 died. According to the official statement of representatives of the British government, there were no weapons, ammunition and sailors on board the passenger ship. DoomLUSITANI called one of the most tragic events of the First World War.

At the end of the 19th century, the Bismarck Law was passed in Germany, according to which shipping companies serving colonial lines began to receive large state subsidies. Taking advantage of the favorable situation and having huge support from the government, the German monopolists launched high-speed liners, which one by one others became ownersAtlantic Blue Ribbon: DUTCHLAND , KRONPRINZ WILHELM , KAISER WILHELM II.

___

Atlantic Blue Ribbon - challenge prize awarded to ocean liners for the speed record when crossing the North Atlantic. Until 1934, the prize was conditional, and was a pennant in the form of a blue ribbon (hence the name), which the record holder had the right to raise on the mast. In the same year, an international committee was formed to determine the first place in the speed of crossing the Atlantic. Until this year, the material prize Atlantic Blue Ribbon didn't exist. From the time ofSamuel Cunard it was a conditional symbol of the vessel's superiority in speed. In the year of the formation of the International Committee of the Blue Ribbon, the Englishman Harold Hayes ordered at his own expense a silver figure, which was supposed to symbolize the prize Atlantic Blue Ribbon.

The cup was made the following year.

England could not ignore the successes of competitors. When the offensive of the German transatlantic companies became especially obvious, the British government decided to create new giant liners that would take away the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic from the Germans.

The government of England placed special hopes on the fact that the new ships could be military. It assumed the obligation to pay the company Cunard Line construction of two ships under the following conditions:
-construction cost of two ships, subsequently namedMAURITANIA And LUZITANIA should not exceed 2,600 thousand pounds;

The ships had to be fast (speed not less than 24.5 knots);
- on the liners, if necessary, twelve 6-inch rapid-fire guns should be installed;

The engine room should be located below the waterline and protected along the sides by coal bunkers.
- none of the management positions of the company Cunard Line could not be occupied by foreign subjects.

The most significant innovation implemented in LUSITANI , was the replacement of conventional reciprocating machines with steam turbines.

The liner had six turbines and four propellers.

The extreme screws were driven by two high-pressure turbines, the middle ones - by two low-pressure turbines. Thanks to these giant turbines with a total capacity of 70 thousand horsepowerLUZITANIAdeveloped a speed of 25 knots.Transatlantic liner LUZITANIA, received in 1907 the right to be called the fastest steamship in the world. The ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 4 days 19 hours and 52 minutes, receiving the prize of speed -Atlantic Blue Ribbon .

The following case from the history of the ship is well known. At the start of World War I LUSITANIUM P tried to capture the German cruiser, he had already transmitted the order on the radio:"Ship captured, follow me." For this team captainLUSITANIresponded with a very simple action - he developed a maximum speed (27 knots), left the cruiser, and he soon lost sight of the transatlantic liner.

The Lusitania could accommodate 2,600 passengers, with a crew of 700 attending to their every whim. The deluxe cabins boasted a living room, a dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom finished with precious woods.

The salons of the luxury cabins were also distinguished by their decoration and expensive finishes. Heavy velvet curtains lined the windows. Walls, columns, openings between the rooms and in the halls were finished with wood, carpets on the floors.

Arched doorways, candelabra, mahogany inlays, damask sofas, deep and comfortable armchairs, hanging conservatories and potted palm trees

All this created an elegant and close to home atmosphere.

From the vault of a 1st class dining elephant decorated in the style of Louis the 16th, nine painted muses smiled.

Passengers had a children's room, a diet kitchen for babies, an infirmary with a doctor and nurses, as well as elevators, rooms for dogs and other pets, telephones and electric signal lights, and rooms for maids and servants.

Salons for lower class cabins, like the cabins themselves, were made in a more modest style.

But they did not lose from this in convenience and comfort.

Dining rooms for 3rd class cabins and staff

LUZITANIA boasted other innovations, for example, electric steering control, remote closing

watertight doors, automatic fire alarms and electric davits for quick launching of lifeboats.

LUZITANIA , having a double bottom and reliable waterproof compartments, was considered unsinkable ...She was the pride of the English shipping company Cunard Line. Launched in 1907, when the German transatlantic companies were especially active and fought for a place under the sun, she was supposed to remind everyone that Great Britain is still the mistress of the seas. Not without reason, the German transatlantic companies saw LUSITANIIA as a powerful rival. In addition, more than once the German authorities accused the British government of using the liner to transport weapons and other contraband across the Atlantic. It is clearly seen here that the economic and political interests of the German elite coincided and it is not surprising that a real hunt was arranged for LUSITANIUM. Many knew about the danger, but few believed that a civilized country would be able to attack a passenger ship without warning.

On April 17, 1915, LUZITANIA left Liverpool for her 201st transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on April 24.

It cannot be argued that those who were going to set off on the return journey on the LUSITANIIA did not know and did not suspect the danger that lay in wait for the liner near their native shores. The German embassy decided to warn passengers before their next flight not to sail on the LUSITANIIA. The warning was printed in 50 American newspapers, including New York ones. The warnings didn't work. Owners Cunard Line and captain William Turner, one of the most famous captains in the North Atlantic, were calm and confident in their ship.

On May 1, 1915, Pier 54 in New York was busy and quite crowded.

Renowned philanthropist and philanthropist Alfred Vanderbilt arrived here in his car ... He, among other passengers, is ready to go to last flight LUSITANIIA- New York-Liverpool...

At noon, the pilot's flag was hoisted on the bridge's signal lines, and the American flag over the narrow stern bridge. Four steam turbines roared in the hold. At 12-30 LUZITANIA was taken away from the pier.

Three tugboats pulled the transatlantic liner until they turned it into the right direction. The departure of the LUSITANIIA was always a magnificent sight

and took place with a large crowd of people on the pier. Thus began the last voyage of this giant, 240 meters long, liner.

So, LUZITANIA set off on a voyage on May 1, and the day before, in the predawn hour, a German boat left its pier in Emden U-20. Before the thirty-two-year-old boat commander Schwieger a specific task was set: to sink any enemy transport ship.

On 5 and 6 May U-20 sank three ships and the Royal Navy issued a warning to all British ships:Submarines active off the south coast of Ireland .
Captain Turner received this message twice and took precautions: watertight doors were closed, all portholes were "shuttered", the number of observers was doubled, all boats were covered and "dumped" overboard to speed up evacuation in case of danger. On May 7, the course was adjusted. It was expected that the submarines would be on the high seas and would not approach from the shore.

LUZITANIA was about 30 miles from Ireland when she encountered fog and reduced her speed to 18 knots. For the commander of the U-20 submarine, this was a real gift. Lookout on the tank LUZITANIAsailor Leslie Morton noticed from the starboard side a treacherous white stripe in the water, rushing towards the ship. He shouted at the bridge through a megaphone:Torpedoes to starboard! Captain Turner managed to take only one step to the middle of the bridge, where the helmsman was standing, when the ship was rocked by an explosion. The ship immediately began listing to starboard and simultaneously sinking forward.

The deck seemed to lift underfoot and then sag again. A column of water and steam burst out with a noise, along with pieces of coal, fragments of wood and steel splinters. Rising up 160 feet above the radio room, they then avalanched on the upper deck.
speed queen as if she stumbled and leaned over. But due to colossal inertia, she still continued to move forward, but the flickering of the lamps already indicated that her generators threatened to stop. Captain Turner expected to throw the ship on a sandbank near Cape Kinsale. He relied heavily on the excellent seaworthiness of LUSITANIIA and hoped to stay afloat for at least an hour. However, in reality, the situation was much worse: the explosion destroyed the steam turbine and interrupted the main steam line. When the steamer began to fall on its starboard side, its 20-meter pipes collapsed onto the deck and into the water, killing people sliding off the steamer into the sea.
The ship's radio operator Robert Leith managed to send a distress call, but SOS sounded only four times, because with the stop of the dynamo, the supply of electricity to the radio room was cut off.

A few moments after the explosion, there was an incredible roar in the engine room of LUSITANIIA: the steam turbine, which had received severe damage, was not stopped in time. These sounds were muffled by the whistle and hiss of steam escaping to freedom (the main steam line was interrupted).

No one on the LUSITANIIA could say with certainty what damage the torpedo had caused. The passengers were deafened by an explosion, followed by a second, even more terrible. Historians are still arguing about this second explosion. Lieutenant Commander Schwinger, who commanded the German submarine, flatly denied launching a second torpedo. Therefore, the Germans explain the second explosion by the detonation of explosives and claim that the explosives were secretly loaded on board a passenger steamer in order to deliver them to England at war with Germany. And the comfortable liner was only a cover for such a disguise.

Launch all boats! Women and children first! - there was a command. In the confusion during the launching of two boats, the officers made an irreparable mistake. They did not take into account that the ship still continues to move forward by inertia, and as soon as the boats touched the water, they turned around, hit the steel side of the liner with force and capsized. Most of the people who were in them ended up in the water ... The list increased rapidly. Seven minutes after the torpedo hit, it reached 30 degrees. Because of this, the boats of the left side fell on the deck, and it was impossible to move them and lower them on the davits into the water. Landing from the lower decks in the boats from the starboard side was practically excluded: the boats hung vertically on the hoists, and with an increasing roll, the board at the waterline moved farther and farther away from them ...

18 minutes have passed. LUSITANIA began to roll quickly to starboard. Hundreds of people, like peas, fell from the decks into the water. On top of them, one after another, twenty-meter pipes began to collapse. The bow of the hull was half hidden under water. The giant ship shuddered for the last time, rolled over with a shiny black keel, pulled up the stern 70 meters and a few seconds later disappeared into the leaden waters of the Atlantic. On the surface of the ocean there were several boats crowded with people, wooden debris and those who knew how to swim or who got a life jacket ... Most of the 3rd class passengers were buried alive in their cabins.

Of the 1959 on board LUSITINIIA 1,198 died, including 785 passengers. Of the 159 American citizens, 124 died. Of the 129 children, 94 died, including 35 babies, of whom almost all (but four) died.

The famous American writer Foreman, the English director Frohman, the playwright Klein, the English oceanographer Stackhouse, the American billionaire Alfred Vanderbilt died...

Consul Frost, shocked by what had happened and seen in Queenstown, reported: “This night, by the light of gas lamps, we saw a terrible succession of rescue ships unloading the living and the dead. Vessels began to approach at about 8 o'clock and continued to arrive at short intervals until almost 11 o'clock at night. Vessel after vessel emerged from the darkness, and at times two or three of them could be discerned, waiting in line in the cloudy night to unload bruised, shuddering women, maimed and half-dressed men, wide-eyed small children, few in number. ."

But soon the enthusiasm of official circles in Germany was replaced by displeasure. A wave of discontent swept over England.

Sometimes seemingly peaceful rallies turned into real pogroms of shops and stores owned by the Germans.

Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt described the attack as "a piracy larger than any murder ever committed in the old piracy days." British justice placed all the blame for the tragedy on the commander of the submarine.

However, the German government accused British officials of using the liner for illegal military purposes - which, however, they never managed to prove. Later, some analysts accused Winston Churchill of developing this plan ....

Versions, assumptions are many. The history of the death of the magnificent liner, the owner of the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic, is full of mysteries and ambiguities, many of its details are still unknown today, and, it can be assumed, they will never be known ...

Today, the only reminder of that tragedy is a porcelain teapot, recovered from the flooded LUSITANIIA by one of several research expeditions equipped to identify the causes of the second explosion.

Yes, a memorial to all those who died in this tragedy of the early 20th century ...

P.S.

Strange things happen sometimes. In 1927, during a severe storm in the Atlantic, the liner "Keltic" sank. Among those rescued was an elderly English woman, Mrs. Murray. Journalists who wrote about this disaster were surprised to learn that in 1915 Mrs. Murray was among the passengers rescued from the steamer "Lusitania". Newsmen were even more surprised when they learned that Mrs. Murray was also on the list of passengers who survived the death of the Titanic. The fragile lady hit the most major disasters XX century and came out of them, as they say, "dry out of the water." And every time in the Atlantic!

Compiled from materials www.infoflotforum.ru and various articles from the web

photographic materials of the LUSITANIIA device are also from the network, and on the victims and events after the tragedy - based on materials humus