The exact cause of the second explosion is a point of contention. The Lusitania shows evidence that she may have been torpedoed a second or even a third time - but the second, most destructive, explosion may not have been caused by a German torpedo, but rather may have come from inside the ship. The reason behind this speculation is that the Lusitania's cargo can be called into question. She had originally said she would take, along with her passengers, platinum, bullion, diamonds and various other precious stones, but these things were never found and port records do not list them either. She is believed to have instead carried, under the guise of bales of fur and cheese boxes, 3-inch shells and millions of rounds of rifle ammunition. If true, these materials comprised "a contraband and explosive cargo which was forbidden by American law and... should never have been placed on a passenger liner" (Simpson 157-158).
Whether the torpedoes completed the destruction of the ship by their own power or they were aided by internal ammunition explosions, the German submarine attack devastated the Lusitania. The ship sank within twenty minutes of when she was hit and took with her 1,201 people - and left only 764 to be saved by those who responded to her SOS (Simpson 9). Many American lives were lost as a result of the sinking, and because the Lusitania was never officially in government service, the United States believed the attack on her "was contrary to international law and the conventions of all civilized nations" (Simpson 8-9). The sinking of the Lusitania caused serious tension between the United States and Germany. Though those tensions were in a large part resolved over time, the sinking of the Lusitania still stands out in history because it was the single most dramatic incident in the co nflicts over German submarine warfare in .
The Lusitania sailed on May 1st 1915 from New York bound for Liverpool. The sinking of the Lusitania was thought to have made a major impact on America and , but America did not join the war for another two years.
The Lusitania crossed the half-way point of her journey at night on May 4th. Around this time, the U-boat U20 appeared off the Irish coast off the Old Head of Kinsdale. U20 was captained by Kapitän-leutnant Schwieger. In all, there were about 15 German U boats in the "European War Zone" - the zone that the Lusitania was about to move into. U20 had left its base at Emden on April 31st 1915. In its journey to the Atlantic it had attacked a Danish merchant ship but let it go once its Danish flag had been spotted. An old three-masted schooner was also attacked by U20; its crew was allowed to escape in their life rafts and then the schooner was sunk. But Schwieger did not consider this 'action' as he and his crew would have appreciated.
May 6th brought better targets for U20. Medium-sized liners called the 'Candidate' and the 'Centurion' were both attacked and sunk. Neither sinking led to any casualties - though Schwieger had not given a warning to either ship. At 19.50 on May 6th, the Lusitania received the first of a number of warnings from the Admiralty about U-boat activity off the south coast of Ireland. The crew went through a number of safety drills and some watertight bulkheads were closed. But the night passed without further incident.
The next day, May 7th, the Lusitania came into sight of the Irish coast. The ship's captain, Captain Turner, became concerned as he could see no other ship ahead of him - more especially, he was concerned that he could see no protective naval ships. It was as if all other ships had cleared the waters as a result of the Admiralty's warning.
The Lusitania took just eighteen minutes to sink. The speed and the angle of sinking made it extremely difficult to launch the life boats and the first one that did get into the water spilled its occupants into the sea.
1,153 passengers and crew drowned. 128 of them were Americans. There was understandable anger throughout America and Great Britain. But some questions remained unanswered by those who condemned the attack:
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why did the liner only take 18 minutes to sink? The log of U20 stated clearly that the submarine had only fired one torpedo and Schwieger stated that this was the case. His log also noted that the torpedo caused an unusually large explosion.
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why was a second explosion seen if no second torpedo was fired? This second explosion presumably speeded up the whole process of the Lusitania sinking.
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with such a high profile ship crossing the Atlantic and after warnings from the Germans and the Admiralty, why were there no British naval boats in the vicinity to protect the Lusitania?
It is thought that a second explosion occurred because the Lusitania was carrying something more than a liner should have been carrying. In the hold of the Lusitania were 4,200 cases of small arms ammunition - an insignificant quantity when compared to the millions of bullets being used in each battle on the . However, by carrying ammunition, the Lusitania was carrying war contraband and she was therefore a legitimate target for the German U boat fleet in the Atlantic. The British propaganda machine went into overdrive condemning the sinking as an act of piracy. The "Times" referred to the sinking by condemning those who doubted German brutality:
