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Lot Essay
Had Lusitania survived the Great War, she and her equally
celebrated sister Mauretania might well have become the most successful pair of liners ever to ply the North Atlantic trade. As it
was, she was destined to achieve a quite different sort of immortality as the first large passenger ship in the long history of sea warfare to be sunk by a submarine without warning in an underwater attack. Apart
from the brutality of her sinking, her loss also hastened -- if not
precipitated -- the United States' entry into the global conflict
which, once that occurred, guaranteed Germany's defeat. Had
Kapitänleutnant Schwieger, the submarine's commander, paused to
consider this eventuality, perhaps he might have left the world's
fastest steamer unmolested and thereby allowed history to take a
different course.
Lusitania and Mauretania were conceived as the British response to J. Pierpont Morgan's acquisition of the White Star Line, a move which not only threatened Cunard's domination of the transatlantic
ferry but also wounded national pride. Designed on the grand scale, the pair had to be financed from government loans in return for a promise
that both ships could be used as auxiliary cruisers in time of war. In view of their size, the orders for the two vessels went to separate
yards, with that for Lusitania going to John Brown at Clydebank
where she was launched just ahead of her sister on 7th June 1906.
Luxuriously appointed, with accommodation for 563 First, 464 Second and 1,138 Steerage passengers in the care of 802 crew, she was, when
delivered on 26th August 1907, the largest ship in the world. Registered
at 31,550 tons gross, she measured 787 feet in length with an 87½
foot beam, and could cruise at 25 knots driven by quadruple screws.
Clearing Liverpool on 7th September for her maiden voyage to New York, she seized the 'Blue Riband' the following month when she set record
times for both outward and return crossings at average speeds of 23.99 and 23.61 knots respectively. Even though she subsequently surrendered
these records to Mauretania, the courageous decision to fit both
sisters with turbines rather than conventional reciprocating engines
had proved a triumph and in the years up to 1914, no ship afloat could match the two Cunarders for speed.
When war was declared in August 1914, the authorities immediately
realized that the twin sisters were actually too large for conversion
to armed merchant cruisers but whereas Mauretania was laid up
pending duty as a troop transport, Lusitania continued her regular Liverpool to New York service as if immune to the international situation. Well patronised by passengers who perceived her speed as
their best safeguard against enemy attack, her Atlantic crossings soon became almost routine and there was an element of complacency about
the risks involved. On 4th February 1915, the German Government had
declared the waters around Great Britain and Ireland to be a war-zone
within which all enemy shipping was liable to be sunk and on 1st May,
the German Embassy in Washington published a reminder of this
declaration in the New York papers alongside Cunard's sailing
schedules. Such was the belief in Lusitania's invulnerability
however, only a handful of passengers cancelled their bookings for that day's departure and the liner left Pier 54 at 10.30am with 189
Americans included amongst the 1,959 people aboard. The voyage from New York was uneventful and apart from being slower than usual due to having six boilers shut down to conserve coal, Lusitania rounded
the Fastnet Rock on the evening of 6th May. Her master Captain Turner
had already received warnings of submarine activity in the Irish Sea
and had reduced speed further so as to approach the area in darkness.
The next morning, Friday 7th May, was calm but foggy, ideal U-boat
weather, and Turner was doubly glad that the cruiser from H.M.S.
Juno would soon be arriving from Queenstown to escort him into
Liverpool. As the day wore on with no sign of Juno making her
rendezvous, Turner altered course to take Lusitania closer inshore; it was a fatal decision and one which was to haunt Captain Turner for
the rest of his life.
Unbeknown to Turner, his new course lay directly across that of the German submarine U-20 which, under the command of Kapitänleutnant
Walter Schwieger, was patrolling the Irish Sea under orders to sink any British vessels he encountered. His lookouts spotted Lusitania just after 1 o'clock and, submerging immediately, he shadowed the liner for about an hour even though he was unsure whether it was Lusitania or Mauretania. For him, the precise identification of the quarry was
almost irrelevant since both were classed as auxiliary cruisers and to sink either would bring him the greatest accolade of his career. He
carefully maneuvered into position and at 2pm.fired a single G-type
torpedo from one of U-20's forward tubes. It hit Lusitania on her
starboard side just aft of the bridge and within moments, the initial
explosion was followed by another that was much louder and more
violent. In an instant the great ship lost way and began heeling over. Even though the lifeboats were already swung out as a precaution, it
proved impossible to launch those on the port side due to her sharp
list and there was panic and confusion on the boatdeck. Despite her
profusion of watertight compartments, the liner flooded and began to
settle astonishingly quickly. Even Schwieger was amazed and just
eighteen minutes after the torpedo had struck, Lusitania slipped
beneath the waves taking almost 1,200 souls down with her.
Although a flotilla of small local craft rescued 764 survivors, the
loss of the unarmed passenger ship along with almost two-thirds of
those aboard her provoked bitter condemnation of Germany and her policy
of unrestricted submarine warfare. The neutral nations, most especially the United States where the public was stunned by the deaths of 134 of their fellow citizens, reacted with disgust and indignation which
Germany attempted to diffuse by alleging Lusitania had been loaded with munitions, the explosion of which had caused her to founder so
quickly. The riddle of her rapid sinking has remained controversial
almost to the present day although Dr. Robert Ballard believes he has
now found the answer. Ballard, fresh from his successes in locating the wrecks of Titanic and Bismarck, has also dived on the wreck of the Lusitania and concludes that U-20's single torpedo ignited
methane gas which had built up in the near-empty coal bunker to cause a massive explosion which blew out large sections of the ship's side.
Whatever the truth of this claim, the sinking of the Lusitania
shocked the civilized world more profoundly than almost any other
single event of the War and it remains to this day one of the greatest maritime tragedies of all time.
celebrated sister Mauretania might well have become the most successful pair of liners ever to ply the North Atlantic trade. As it
was, she was destined to achieve a quite different sort of immortality as the first large passenger ship in the long history of sea warfare to be sunk by a submarine without warning in an underwater attack. Apart
from the brutality of her sinking, her loss also hastened -- if not
precipitated -- the United States' entry into the global conflict
which, once that occurred, guaranteed Germany's defeat. Had
Kapitänleutnant Schwieger, the submarine's commander, paused to
consider this eventuality, perhaps he might have left the world's
fastest steamer unmolested and thereby allowed history to take a
different course.
Lusitania and Mauretania were conceived as the British response to J. Pierpont Morgan's acquisition of the White Star Line, a move which not only threatened Cunard's domination of the transatlantic
ferry but also wounded national pride. Designed on the grand scale, the pair had to be financed from government loans in return for a promise
that both ships could be used as auxiliary cruisers in time of war. In view of their size, the orders for the two vessels went to separate
yards, with that for Lusitania going to John Brown at Clydebank
where she was launched just ahead of her sister on 7th June 1906.
Luxuriously appointed, with accommodation for 563 First, 464 Second and 1,138 Steerage passengers in the care of 802 crew, she was, when
delivered on 26th August 1907, the largest ship in the world. Registered
at 31,550 tons gross, she measured 787 feet in length with an 87½
foot beam, and could cruise at 25 knots driven by quadruple screws.
Clearing Liverpool on 7th September for her maiden voyage to New York, she seized the 'Blue Riband' the following month when she set record
times for both outward and return crossings at average speeds of 23.99 and 23.61 knots respectively. Even though she subsequently surrendered
these records to Mauretania, the courageous decision to fit both
sisters with turbines rather than conventional reciprocating engines
had proved a triumph and in the years up to 1914, no ship afloat could match the two Cunarders for speed.
When war was declared in August 1914, the authorities immediately
realized that the twin sisters were actually too large for conversion
to armed merchant cruisers but whereas Mauretania was laid up
pending duty as a troop transport, Lusitania continued her regular Liverpool to New York service as if immune to the international situation. Well patronised by passengers who perceived her speed as
their best safeguard against enemy attack, her Atlantic crossings soon became almost routine and there was an element of complacency about
the risks involved. On 4th February 1915, the German Government had
declared the waters around Great Britain and Ireland to be a war-zone
within which all enemy shipping was liable to be sunk and on 1st May,
the German Embassy in Washington published a reminder of this
declaration in the New York papers alongside Cunard's sailing
schedules. Such was the belief in Lusitania's invulnerability
however, only a handful of passengers cancelled their bookings for that day's departure and the liner left Pier 54 at 10.30am with 189
Americans included amongst the 1,959 people aboard. The voyage from New York was uneventful and apart from being slower than usual due to having six boilers shut down to conserve coal, Lusitania rounded
the Fastnet Rock on the evening of 6th May. Her master Captain Turner
had already received warnings of submarine activity in the Irish Sea
and had reduced speed further so as to approach the area in darkness.
The next morning, Friday 7th May, was calm but foggy, ideal U-boat
weather, and Turner was doubly glad that the cruiser from H.M.S.
Juno would soon be arriving from Queenstown to escort him into
Liverpool. As the day wore on with no sign of Juno making her
rendezvous, Turner altered course to take Lusitania closer inshore; it was a fatal decision and one which was to haunt Captain Turner for
the rest of his life.
Unbeknown to Turner, his new course lay directly across that of the German submarine U-20 which, under the command of Kapitänleutnant
Walter Schwieger, was patrolling the Irish Sea under orders to sink any British vessels he encountered. His lookouts spotted Lusitania just after 1 o'clock and, submerging immediately, he shadowed the liner for about an hour even though he was unsure whether it was Lusitania or Mauretania. For him, the precise identification of the quarry was
almost irrelevant since both were classed as auxiliary cruisers and to sink either would bring him the greatest accolade of his career. He
carefully maneuvered into position and at 2pm.fired a single G-type
torpedo from one of U-20's forward tubes. It hit Lusitania on her
starboard side just aft of the bridge and within moments, the initial
explosion was followed by another that was much louder and more
violent. In an instant the great ship lost way and began heeling over. Even though the lifeboats were already swung out as a precaution, it
proved impossible to launch those on the port side due to her sharp
list and there was panic and confusion on the boatdeck. Despite her
profusion of watertight compartments, the liner flooded and began to
settle astonishingly quickly. Even Schwieger was amazed and just
eighteen minutes after the torpedo had struck, Lusitania slipped
beneath the waves taking almost 1,200 souls down with her.
Although a flotilla of small local craft rescued 764 survivors, the
loss of the unarmed passenger ship along with almost two-thirds of
those aboard her provoked bitter condemnation of Germany and her policy
of unrestricted submarine warfare. The neutral nations, most especially the United States where the public was stunned by the deaths of 134 of their fellow citizens, reacted with disgust and indignation which
Germany attempted to diffuse by alleging Lusitania had been loaded with munitions, the explosion of which had caused her to founder so
quickly. The riddle of her rapid sinking has remained controversial
almost to the present day although Dr. Robert Ballard believes he has
now found the answer. Ballard, fresh from his successes in locating the wrecks of Titanic and Bismarck, has also dived on the wreck of the Lusitania and concludes that U-20's single torpedo ignited
methane gas which had built up in the near-empty coal bunker to cause a massive explosion which blew out large sections of the ship's side.
Whatever the truth of this claim, the sinking of the Lusitania
shocked the civilized world more profoundly than almost any other
single event of the War and it remains to this day one of the greatest maritime tragedies of all time.