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RMS Lusitania. The ''Lusitania''
Career	British Blue Ensign
Nationality:	British
Owners:	Cunard Line
Builders:	John Brown & Co. Ltd, yards in Clydebank, Scotland
Port of registry:	Liverpool, United Kingdom
Laid down:	June 16, 1904
Launched:	Thursday, June 7, 1906 Atlantic Liners.
Christened:	Mary, Lady Inverclyde
Maiden voyage:	September 7, 1907
Fate:	Torpedoed by German U-boat ''U-20'' May 7, 1915
Specifications
Gross Tonnage:	31,550 GRT
Displacement:	44,060 Long Tons
Length:	787 ft (239.87 m)
Beam:	87 ft 6 in (26.67 m)
Number of funnels:	4
Number of masts:	2
Construction:	Steel
Power:	25 Scotch boilers. Four direct-acting Parsons steam turbines producing 76000 hp geared to quadruple screws
Propulsion:	Four triple blade propellers. Quadruple blade propellers installed 1909.
Service Speed:	25 knots (46.3 km/h / 28.8 mph) Top speed (single-day's run): 26.7 knots (49.4 km/h) (March, 1914)
Passenger Accommodation (Designed):	552 first class, 460 second class, 1,186 third class. 2,198 total1272 deaths
Crew:	850

'''RMS Lusitania''' was a British luxury ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. Christened and launched on Thursday, June 7 1906, ''Lusitania'' met a tragic end as a casualty of the First World War when she was torpedoed by the German submarine, ''U-20'', on May 7, 1915. The great ship sank in just 18 minutes, eight miles (15 km) off of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany.

Contents

Construction and sea trials

Comparison with the ''Olympic'' class

Career

Hudson Fulton celebration

War

Last voyage and sinking

Last departure

Passengers

Eastbound

Sinking

Political consequences

Living survivors

Controversies

Contraband and second explosion

Deliberate action by the British admiralty

Recent developments

References

Notes

Primary sources

External links

Construction and sea trials

''Lusitania'' was owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company, built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, June 7 1906. ''Lusitania'' sailed on her maiden voyage to New York City on September 7, 1907 arriving on September 13, 1907, taking back the Blue Riband in 1907 and she and the ''Mauretania'' were the fastest liners of their day.
''Lusitania'' and her sister, RMS ''Mauretania'', were built during the time of a passenger liner race between shipping lines based in Germany and Great Britain, and were the fastest liners of their day. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the fastest Atlantic liners were German, and the British sought to win back the title. Simultaneously, American financier J.P. Morgan was planning to buy up all the North Atlantic shipping lines, including Britain's own White Star Line. In 1903, Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde took these threats to his advantage and lobbied the Balfour administration for a loan of £2.6 million for the construction of ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'', providing they met Admiralty specifications and Cunard remain a wholly British company. The British Government also agreed to pay Cunard an annual subsidy of £150,000 for maintaining both ships in a state of war readiness, plus an additional £68,000 to carry Royal Mail.
''Lusitania's keel was laid at John Brown & Clydebank as Yard no. 367 on June 16, 1904. She was launched and christened by Mary, Lady Inverclyde, on Thursday, June 7 1906. Lusitania, Atlantic Liner. Lost Liners. Lord Inverclyde had died before this momentous occasion.
Starting on July 27, 1907, ''Lusitania'' underwent preliminary and formal acceptance trials. It was then she smashed all speed records ever set in the history of the shipping industry. Engineers discovered high speed caused violent vibrations in the stern, forcing the fitting of stronger bracing parts. After these physical alterations, she was finally delivered to Cunard on August 26.

Comparison with the ''Olympic'' class

''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'' were smaller than White Star Line's vessels ''Olympic'', ''Titanic'', and ''Britannic''. Although significantly faster than the ''Olympic''s, they were not fast enough to allow Cunard to provide a weekly transatlantic departure schedule with just two vessels. Consequently Cunard would require a third ship to maintain a weekly service, and after White Star announced plans to build the ''Olympic''s, Cunard ordered a third ship, ''Aquitania''. Like the White Star trio, ''Aquitania'' would be larger and slower, but also more luxurious, than ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania''.
''Olympic''s differed from ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'' in the subdivision of underwater compartments. The ''Olympic''s were divided by transverse watertight bulkheads. ''Lusitania'' also had transverse bulkheads, but in addition she had longitudinal bulkheads on each side, between the boiler and engine rooms and the coal bunkers on the outside of the vessel. The British commission that investigated the ''Titanic'' disaster heard testimony flooding of bunkers outside of longitudinal bulkheads over a considerable length could increase the ship's list and "make the lowering of the boats on the other side impracticable" — exactly what happened with Lusitania.Inquiry.

Career

''Lusitania'' departed Liverpool for her maiden voyage on September 7, 1907 and arrived in New York City on September 13. At the time she was the largest ocean liner in service and would continue to be until the introduction of her sister ''Mauretania'' in November that year.
In October 1907, ''Lusitania'' took the Blue Riband from ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' of the North German Lloyd, ending Germany's 10-year dominance of the Atlantic. ''Lusitania'' averaged 23.99 knots (44.4 km/h) westbound and 23.61 knots (43.7 km/h) eastbound.
With the introduction of ''Mauretania'' in November 1907, ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'' continued to swap the Blue Riband. ''Lusitania'' made her fastest westbound crossing in 1909, averaging 25.85 knots (47.9 km/h). In September of that same year, she lost it permanently to ''Mauretania''.

Hudson Fulton celebration

''Lusitania'' and other ships participated in the Hudson Fulton celebration in New York City from the end of September to early October 1909. This was in celebration of the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's trip up the river that bears his name and the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton's steamboat, ''Clermont''. The celebration also was a display of the different modes of transportation then in existence, ''Lusitania'' representing the newest advancement in steamship technology. A newer mode of travel was the aeroplane. Wilbur Wright had brought a Flyer to Governors Island and proceeded to make demonstration flights before millions of New Yorkers who had never seen an airplane. Some of Wright's trips were directly over ''Lusitania'' and passengers on the liner marveled up at the newer technology of the airplane which in 40 years time would supersede the ocean liner as the primary mode of Trans-Atlantic passenger travel. A few interesting photographs of ''Lusitania'' still exist from that week.

War

''Lusitania'', like a number of liners of the era, was part of a subsidy scheme meant to convert ships into Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMC) if requisitioned by the government. This involved structural provisions for mounting deck guns.
At the onset of World War I, the British Admiralty considered ''Lusitania'' for requisition as an armed merchant cruiser; however, large liners such as ''Lusitania'' consumed too much coal, presented too large a target, and put at risk large crews and were therefore deemed inappropriate for the role. They were also very distinctive. Smaller liners were used as transports, instead.
The large liners were either not requisitioned, or were used for troop transport or as hospital ships. ''Mauretania'' became a troop transport while ''Lusitania'' continued in her role as a luxury liner built to convey people between Great Britain and the United States. For economic reasons, ''Lusitania's transatlantic crossings were reduced to once a month and boiler room Number 4 was shut down. Maximum speed was reduced to 21 knots (39 km/h), but even then, ''Lusitania'' was the fastest passenger liner on the North Atlantic in commercial service, and 10 knots (18.5 km/h) faster than submarines.
On February 4, 1915, Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone. Effective as of February 18, Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. This was not wholly unrestricted submarine warfare, since efforts would be taken to avoid sinking neutral ships.^[1]
''Lusitania'' was scheduled to arrive in Liverpool on March 6, 1915. The Admiralty issued her specific instructions on how to avoid submarines. Despite a severe shortage of destroyers, Admiral Henry Oliver ordered HMS ships ''Louis'' and ''Laverlock'' to escort ''Lusitania'', and took the further precaution of sending the Q ship ''Lyons'' to patrol Liverpool Bay. Captain Dow of ''Lusitania'', not knowing whether ''Laverock'' and ''Louis'' were actual Admiralty escorts or a trap by the German navy, evaded the escorts and arrived in Liverpool without incident.^[2]
On April 17, 1915, ''Lusitania'' left Liverpool on her 201st transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on April 24. A group of German–Americans, hoping to avoid controversy if ''Lusitania'' were attacked by a U-boat, discussed their concerns with a representative of the German embassy. The embassy decided to warn passengers not to sail aboard ''Lusitania'' before her next crossing.
The Imperial German embassy placed this warning ad in 50 East Coast newspapers, including those in New York. This ad was prepaid and requested to be put on the paper's travel page a full week before the sailing date. However, even though the ads were sent to newspapers in time for the requested deadline, the State Department of the United States intervened by raising the specter of possible libel suits. The ads, intended by the German government to save American lives, were to appear in only one newspaper, the ''Des Moines Register''. It has been argued (without any historical evidence) the actions taken by the U.S. government were taken to ensure the U.S. would become embroiled in WWI as the killing of innocent women and children by Germany would stir popular opinion against the Central Powers.

Last voyage and sinking

Last departure

''Lusitania'' departed Pier 54 in New York on 1 May 1915. The German Embassy in Washington had issued this warning on 22 April.
:''NOTICE!''

:''TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and his allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.''
:

'''IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,'
Washington, D.C. April 22, 1915''
This warning was printed right next to an advertisement for ''Lusitania's return voyage.
The warning led to some agitation in the press and worried the ship's passengers and crew. The captain, an experienced 58-year old sailor and master named William "Bowler Bill" Turner, tried to calm the passengers by explaining that the ship's speed made it safe.
''Lusitania'' steamed out of New York at noon that day, two hours behind schedule due to a transfer of passengers and crew from the recently requisitioned ''Cameronia''. Shortly after departure, three German spies were found on board, arrested, and detained below decks.

Passengers

''Lusitania'' carried 1,989 passengers on her last voyage. Those aboard included British MP David Alfred Thomas and his daughter Margaret, Lady Mackworth, American architect Theodate Pope, Oxford professor and writer Ian Stoughton Holbourn, H. Montagu Allan's wife Marguerite and daughters Anna Marjory and Gwendolyn Evelyn, playwrights Justus Miles Forman and Charles Klein, American theatre impresario Charles Frohman, American philosopher, writer and Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard and his second wife Alice, American pianist Charles Harwood Knight, renowned Irish art collector Sir Hugh Lane, Socialite Beatrice Witherbee, her son Alfred Scott Witherbee, Jr., and her mother May Cummings Brown, American engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Stark Pearson and his wife Mabel, genealogist Lothrop Withington, and sportsman, millionaire, leader of the Vanderbilt family, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, and scenic designer Oliver P. Bernard whose sketches of the sinking were published in the ''Illustrated London News''.
The Warren Pearls were there as well. Audrey, then three months old, survived, reputedly in the bottom drawer taken from the chest of drawers in their state room in the arms of Alice Lines, her nanny. Two of her sisters died in the tragedy. Audrey, now 92, has donated an inshore lifeboat, Amy Lea (named in memory of her mother) to the RNLI at New Quay on the west coast of Wales

Eastbound

''Lusitania's landfall on the return leg of her transatlantic circuit was Fastnet Rock, off the southern tip of Ireland. As the liner steamed across the ocean, the British Admiralty was tracking through wireless intercepts the movements of the German submarine ''U-20'', commanded by Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger and operating along the west coast of Ireland and moving south.
On 5 May and 6 May, ''U-20'' sank three vessels in the area of Fastnet Rock, and the Royal Navy sent a warning to all British ships: "Submarines active off the south coast of Ireland". Captain Turner of ''Lusitania'' was given the message twice on the evening of the 6th, and took what he felt were prudent precautions. He closed watertight doors, posted double lookouts, ordered a black-out, and had the lifeboats swung out on their davits so they could be quickly put into the water if need be. That same evening, a Seamen's Charities fund concert took place in the first class lounge.
At about 11:00, on Friday, May 7, the Admiralty radioed another warning, and Turner adjusted his heading northeast, apparently thinking submarines would be more likely to keep to the open sea and so ''Lusitania'' would be safer close to land.
''U-20'' was low on fuel and only had three torpedoes left, and Schwieger had decided to head for home. She was moving at top speed on the surface at 13:00 when Schwieger spotted a vessel on the horizon. He ordered ''U-20'' to dive and to take battle stations.

Sinking

''Lusitania'' was making for the port of Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, 70 kilometers from the Old Head of Kinsale when the liner crossed in front of ''U-20'' at 2:10 p.m. Lusitania was going along at a fairly slow cruising speed at the time, hence she became U-20's priority target.
Schwieger gave the order to fire, but his quartermaster, Charles Voegele, would not take part in an attack on women and children, and refused to pass on the order to the torpedo room — a decision for which he was court-martialed and served three years in prison at Kiel^[3]. Another crewman took over, and a single torpedo was launched. It hit under the bridge, and was followed by a much larger secondary explosion in the starboard bow. Schwieger's own log entries attest he only fired one torpedo. Some doubt the validity of this claim, contending the German government subsequently doctored Schwieger's log, but accounts from other ''U-20'' crew members confirm it. The torpedo struck just forward of the bridge, sending a plume of debris, steel plating and water upward and knocking Lifeboat #5 off its davits. ''Lusitania's wireless operator sent out an immediate SOS and Captain Turner gave the order to abandon ship.
The water flooded into the ship's starboard longitudinal compartments, causing the ship to list nearly 15 degrees to starboard from the start. Captain Turner tried turning the ship toward the Irish coast in the hope of beaching her, but the helm would not respond. The torpedo not only knocked out the steam lines that controlled the rudder, but also rendered the controls useless. The ships propellers continued to drive the ship at 18 knots, forcing water into her hull.
''Lusitania's severe starboard list complicated the launch of her lifeboats — those to starboard swung out too far to conveniently step aboard. Report. While it was still possible to board the lifeboats on the port side, lowering them presented a different problem. As was typical for the period, the hull plates of the ''Lusitania'' were riveted. As the lifeboats were lowered, they dragged on these rivets, which threatened to rip the boats apart. Many lifeboats overturned while loading or lowering, spilling passengers into the sea below; others were overturned by the ship's motion when they hit the water. Some, by the negligence of some officers, crashed down onto the deck, crushing other passengers, and sliding down towards the bridge. ''Lusitania'' had 48 lifeboats, more than enough for all the crew and passengers, but only six lifeboats were successfully lowered and all were from the starboard side.
Despite Turner's efforts to beach the liner and reduce her speed, ''Lusitania'' no longer answered the helm. There was panic and disorder on the decks. Schwieger had been observing this through ''U-20's periscope, and by 2:25 p.m., he dropped the periscope and headed out to sea.
Within six minutes, Lusitania's forecastle began to go underwater. The ship's list continued to worsen and 10 minutes after the torpedoing, the ship had slowed enough to start putting boats in the water. On the port side, people panicked and got into the boats, even though they were swinging far in from the rails. Crewman and passengers would panic and Boats 2, 4, 6, 8 and others crashed into the superstructure, crushing and maiming as they slide downward toward the bridge. On the starboard side, the boats were hanging several feet away from the sides. Crewman would lose their grip on the lifeboat falls as the ship lurched over further, sending passengers in the boats spilling into the sea. Others would tip on launch as some panicking people jumped into the boat.
Captain Turner stayed in the bridge until the water rushed upward and destroyed the sliding door, sending him out the imploded windows. He took the ship's logbook and charts with him. He managed to get out and find a floating chair in the water, which he clung to. He was pulled unconscious from the water but miraculously survived after spending 3 hours in the water. ''Lusitania's bow slammed into the bottom about 100 m (300 ft) below at a shallow angle, given her forward momentum as she sank. Along the way, some boilers exploded, including one that caused the third funnel collapse with the remaining funnels proceeding to snap off soon after. Captain Turner's last navigational fix had been only two minutes before the torpedoing, and he was able to remember the ship's speed and bearing at the moment of sinking. This was accurate enough to locate the wreck after the war. The ship travelled about two miles (3 km) from the time of the torpedoing to her final resting place, leaving a trail of debris and people behind.
''Lusitania'' sank in 18 minutes, off of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. 1,198 people died with her, including almost a hundred children.^[4] The bodies of many of the victims were buried at either ''Lusitania's destination, Queenstown, or the Church of St. Multose in Kinsale. However, the bodies of many other victims were never recovered and remain entombed inside the wreck of the ship.

Political consequences

Schwieger was condemned in the Allied press as a war criminal.
Of the 197 Americans on board, 128 lost their lives. There was massive outrage in Britain and America. The British felt the Americans had to declare war on Germany. US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, fearing the US would declare war, resigned from the Cabinet in protest; however, President Woodrow Wilson still did not want the country to get involved in a European dispute because the American population (many of whom were German‐American) did not want to be involved in a war. Instead of declaring war, he sent a formal protest to Germany. Wilson was bitterly criticised in Britain as a coward.
Wilson's restraint now seems remarkable under the circumstances, since there was a wave of American anger over the sinking of ''Lusitania''. Although unrestricted submarine warfare continued at a varying pace into the summer, on August 19 ''U-24'' sank the White Star liner ''Arabic'', with the loss of 44 passengers and crew. Three of the dead were Americans, and President Wilson angrily protested through German diplomatic channels.
On August 27, the Kaiser imposed severe restrictions on U‐boats attacks against large passenger vessels. On September 18 1915, he called off unrestricted submarine warfare completely.
Munich metalworker Karl Goetz struck commemorative medallions in August 1915 to satirise what he saw as the greed of Cunard line and the foolishness of contraband he suspected was being smuggled with the help of US neutrality. The original medal has the incorrect date of 5 May 1915 on it. Some time thereafter British intelligence obtained a copy and saw a propaganda opportunity as the medal apparently celebrated the sinking as a premeditated crime. The incorrect date was taken as proof of this theory and combined with possibly apocryphal German press reports touting the triumph. British propagandists precommissioned Selfridges of London to make 250–300,000 copies of the medal in an attractive case claiming to be an exact copy of the German medal, which then were sold for a shilling to benefit the British Red Cross and other charities. Belatedly realising his mistake Goetz issued a corrected medal with the date of 7 May. The Bavarian government suppressed the medal and ordered their confiscation in April 1917. The original German medals (fewer than 500 were struck) can most easily be distinguished from the English copies because the date is in German; the English version spells 'May' rather than 'Mai'. After the war Goetz expressed his regret his work had been the cause of increasing anti‐German feelings, but it remains one of the most celebrated propaganda acts of all time.
According to French newspapers, the opening of the Paris Peace Conference, which resulted in the Treaty of Versailles, coincided deliberately with the anniversary of the sinking of the ''Lusitania''.

Living survivors

There is only one survivor of the incident alive and well today, after Audrey Lawson-Johnston died in November of 2006. She is Barbara McDermott (born Barbara Winifred Anderson in June 1912) of Connecticut (her current home today).

Controversies

Contraband and second explosion

''Lusitania'' was carrying small arms ammunition. It could not explode.^[5] Under the "cruiser rules", the Germans could sink the ship only after guaranteeing the safety of all the passengers; since she would (like all British merchantmen) have reported the sighting of a German submarine, she was acting as a naval auxiliary, she was exempt from this requirement and a legitimate military target, so by international law, the presence (or absence) of military cargo was irrelevant.
Recent expeditions to the wreck have shown her holds are intact and show no evidence of internal explosion. The question remains, however: if ammunition and alleged "secret" cargo did not cause the violent second explosion, what did?
In 1993, Dr Robert Ballard, famous explorer who discovered ''Titanic'', conducted an in-depth exploration of the wreck of ''Lusitania''. Ballard found Light had been mistaken in his identification of a gaping hole in the ship's side. To explain the second explosion, Ballard advanced the theory of a coal-dust explosion. He believed dust in the bunkers would have been thrown into the air by the vibration from the explosion; the resulting cloud would have been ignited by a spark, causing the second explosion. In the years since he first advanced this theory, it has been argued this is a near-impossibility.
Critics of this theory say coal dust would have been too damp to have been stirred into the air by the torpedo impact in explosive concentrations; additionally, the coal bunker where the torpedo struck would have been flooded almost immediately by the influx of seawater which poured through the damaged hull plates.
More recently, marine forensic investigators have become convinced an explosion in the ship's steam-generating plant is a far more plausible explanation for the second explosion. There were very few survivors from the forward two boiler rooms, but they did report the ship's boilers did not explode; they were also under extreme duress in those moments after the torpedo's impact, however. Leading Fireman Albert Martin later testified he thought the torpedo actually entered the boiler room and exploded between a group of boilers, which was a physical impossibility. It is also known the forward boiler room filled with steam, and steam pressure feeding the turbines dropped dramatically following the second explosion. These point toward a failure, of one sort or another, in the ship's steam-generating plant. It is possible the failure came, not directly from one of the Scotch boilers in boiler room no. 1, but rather in the high-pressure steam lines to the turbines.
In any case, most researchers and historians agree a steam explosion is far more likely than clandestine high-explosives as the reason for the second explosion. It must be noted, however, it is quite likely the original torpedo damage alone, striking the ship on the starboard coal bunker of boiler room no. 1, would have sent the ship to the bottom without the aid of the second explosion. This first blast was able to cause, on its own, off-center flooding of a serious nature. The deficiencies of the ship's original watertight bulkhead design exacerbated the situation, as did the many portholes which had been left open to aid in ventilation.

Deliberate action by the British admiralty

Some historians have theorised Great Britain, in particular First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, conspired to have ''Lusitania'' sunk to draw the United States into the First World War. However, there is some argument against this. It was well known by British, American, and German governments at the time, if the Americans entered the war, they would divert war materials and ammunition — then keeping the British going in their war effort — to raising and equipping their own army for fighting. Indeed U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing had also prepared, prior to the disaster (while serving as Assistant to then-Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan), a memorandum clearly outlining why American involvement in the war would be detrimental to the Allies. Again, two days after the sinking, the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Cecil Spring‐Rice, telegraphed London it was Britain's "main interest to preserve U.S. as a base of supplies." It would take quite some time for the United States to train and equip its army.

Recent developments

The wreck is owned by New Mexico diver and businessman F Gregg Bemis Jr, who bought it in 1968 from former business partners, of whom one had previously bought it in 1967 for £1000 from the Liverpool & London War Risks Insurance Association.^[6][7]
The Irish Government in 1995 declared the wreck a heritage site under the National Monuments Act. This protects the wreck for 100 years. One reason for this is attributed to the presumed presence of art treasures in lead containers located in the hold believed to have been carried by Sir Hugh Lane.
In June 2005, Bemis won a High Court challenge with the Irish State and is now in a position to legally inspect and carry out a $2 million research expedition on the wreck. Mr Bemis wants to send divers down to prove his theory the second explosion was caused by munitions being carried. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision in a judgment delivered on March 27, 2007.
A dive team from Cork Sub Aqua Club, under license, made the first known discovery of munitions aboard in 2006. These include 15,000 rounds of 0.303 (7.7×56mmR) caliber rifle ammunition in boxes in the bow section of the ship. The 0.303 round was used by the British army in all of their battlefield rifles and machine guns. The find was photographed but left ''in situ'' under the terms of the license.
Bemis also hopes to salvage components from the wreck for display in museums. Any fine art recovered, such as the Rubens rumoured to be on board, will remain in the ownership of the Irish Government.
On 28 March 2007, the ''Irish Times'' reported the Irish Government will grant Bemis a licence to carry out research on the vessel, but the Supreme Court's decision makes it clear a further licence application would be required by Bemis.

References

★ Thomas A. Bailey. "The Sinking of the Lusitania," ''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 41, No. 1 (Oct 1935), pp. 54–73 in JSTOR

★ Thomas A. Bailey; Paul B. Ryan. ''The Lusitania Disaster: An Episode in Modern Warfare and Diplomacy'' (1975)

★ Ballard, Robert D., & Dunmore, Spencer. (1995). ''Exploring the Lusitania''. New York: Warner Books.

★ Hoehling, A.A. and Mary Hoehling. (1956). ''The Last Voyage of the Lusitania''. Maryland: Madison Books.

★ Layton, J. Kent (2007). An Illustrated Biography of the Ship of Splendor''.

★ Layton, J. Kent (2005). Liners: A Trio of Trios''. CafePress Publishing.

★ Ljungström, Henrik. Lusitania. ''The Great Ocean Liners''.

★ O'Sullivan, Patrick. (2000). ''The Lusitania: Unravelling the Mysteries''. New York: Sheridan House.

★ Preston, Diana. (2002). ''Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy''. Waterville: Thorndike Press. Preston (2002 p 384) states:

Notes

1. Germany's second submarine campaign against the Allies during World War One was unrestricted in scope, as was submarine warfare during the Second World War.
2. Patrick Beesly, ''Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914–1918'' (1982) p.95; Preston (2002), pp76–77
3. Des Hickey and Gus Smith, ''Seven Days to Disaster: The Sinking of the Lusitania'', 1981, William Collins, ISBN 0-00-216882-0.
4. Robert Ballard, ''Exploring the Lusitania''. This number is cited, probably to include the German spies detained below decks. The Cunard Steamship Company announced the official death toll of 1,195 on March 1, 1916.
5. Included in this cargo were 4,200,000 rounds of Remington 0.303 rifle cartridges, 1250 cases of 3 inch (76 mm) fragmentation shells, and eighteen cases of fuses. (All were listed on the ship's two-page manifest, filed with U.S. Customs after she had departed New York on May 1.) However, the materials listed on the cargo manifest were small arms and the physical size of this cargo would have been quite small. These munitions were also proven to be non-explosive in bulk, and were clearly marked as such. It was perfectly legal under American shipping regulations for her to carry these; experts agreed they were not to blame for the second explosion. Allegations that the ship was carrying more controversial cargo, such as aluminium fine powder concealed as cheese on her cargo manifests, have never been proven.
6. How deep is his love, Class Notes, Stanford Magazine, March/April 2005
7. Millionaire diver wins right to explore wreck of the Lusitania, David Sharrock, The Times, London, Apr 2 2007

Primary sources

★ Thomas A. Bailey, "German Documents Relating to the 'Lusitania'", ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 8, No. 3 (Sep., 1936), pp. 320–37 in JSTOR

★ Timeline, The Lusitania Resource.

★ Facts and Figures, The Lusitania Resource.

External links

★ The Lusitania Resource {Reference only}

★ CWGC record of Lt. Robert Matthews {Lusitania Passenger} {Reference only}

★ Professor Joseph Marichal {Lusitania Passenger KIA WWI} {Reference only}

★ British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry

★ Lest We Forget Moving Passenger's Stories from the Lusitania

★ Lusitania Home at Atlantic Liners.com

★ Lusitania Information & photos

★ Lusitania Passenger Stories

★ Passport to Perdition The tragic story of Lusitania victim Thoms Silva.

★ The Lusitania Memorial in Cobh

★ Maritimequest RMS Lusitania Photo Gallery

★ Photo of one of the Lusitania's salvaged propellers at Liverpool Maritime Museum

★ The First Aerial Canoe: Wilbur Wright and the Hudson-Fulton FlightsThe Hudson Fulton Celebration

★ Picture of the Lusitania with the Statue of Liberty in the distance, Wilbur Wright's Wright Flyer on the beach at Governor's Island

★ The Fast Lusitania