The Lusitania Essay Research Paper The Sinking

The Sinking of the Lusitania

In the early part of the twentieth century there was one and only main way to travel through the Atlantic Ocean. The Lusitania was built to challenge some german vessels that had the |blue ribandX. At this time the passengers of these vessels were not only looking for fast means of travels but stylish means of trvaeling. They were looking for luxury, from the food to the sleeping accomodations.

The Lusitania weighed 31,550 tons and was 785 feet long. In only its second year the ship took the |Blue RibandX back from the Germans. The ship became very seccessful and was enjoyed by many passengers.

On a voyage leaving Liverpool on January 16, 1915 the Lusitania was involved in an international incident which gave the ship’s presence in the North Atlantic a very high profile. |The ship was travelling through rough seas on the way to Queenstownand, fearing the possibility of a torpedo attack, the Captain hoisted the ’stars and stripes.X Since America was still a neutral side, Germany wouldn+t dare to bring USA on the side of the allies, so they thaught they would defintiely have a safe passage.

But when the raised the US flag, the press noticed it and it wa soon world news. In April 1915, the German embassy in Washington sent warnings to the newspapers in New York to say that the passengers travelling on American or British ships did so at their own risk.

On its next voyage on April seventeenth the cargo was foodstuffs, metal rods, ingots and boxes of cartridges. Although debate on the real contents have been going on for many years. On May 7th the ship entered the so called |Danger ZoneX The captain took all safety orders and proceeded. After a breif stop in Liverpool the ship was hit with a torpedo. Almost simultaneously there was a second explosion, which was thought at the time to be a second torpedo. | The stricken Lusitania immediately took on a heavy list to starboard and in about 20 minutes it had sunk, with the loss of 1,198 lives. The ship sank bow first, with its stern almost perpendicular out of the water, just as the Titanic had done some 3 years earlier.X

There has been many different reports on why the Lusitania sank. Many have said that it was carrying weapons which caused the big explosion from the torpedo. That has been suggested because people think that the power of just 1 torpedo could have caused the ship to sink in twenty minutes.