Sinking of the RMS Lusitania

[Ruckdog]

The Lusitania was sunk 100 years ago yesterday. In addition to being a great tradgedy, it was also one of the events that wound up swinging the US into the war (though not for another two years). It was also a major development in the evolution of submarine warfare, as it both proved the efficacy and the political dangers associated with unrestricted submarine campaigns. Here is more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

The USNI blog also has an interesting article on other liners that were lost during the war:

http://news.usni.org/2015/05/07/the-sinking-of-the-lusitania-at-100-passenger-ships-in-world-war-i

[MajorMcNicol]

I know many infantry formations had "Remember the Lusitania!" battle cries. 

With the benefit of hindsight, do you think the sinking of the liner was a definite mistake for the Germans, maybe an error, or actually somehow beneficial? 

P.S. That USNI link has some pretty interesting information about the Olympic!  It should look familiar to DW players...

[Ruckdog]

Off the cuff, I'd say that the sinking of the Lucy hurt the Geman cause. It was intentional in that the U-Boat skipper definitely knew it was a passenger liner he was sinking. However, in Massie's book Castles of Steel, you definitely get a sense that there was a tension between the German high command and the Navy on the use of U-boats, with the navy wanting to use them more aggressively. I think this attack was a result of that tension.

[Landlubber]

Ruckdog, thanks for posting this. I've been remiss over the past few months in keeping up with the WW1 centenaries--we passed the anniversary of Gallipoli and I didn't even post anything about it!

[Ruckdog]

No worries! I understand how Real Life is always a factor. I just saw this come across the USNI blog, and thought it would be fun to share here .