The British Cunard Liner Torpedoed Off Ireland in 18 Minutes on 7 May 1915 With the Loss of 1,198 Lives Including 128 Americans

The RMS Lusitania was a Cunard transatlantic liner that had been launched in 1906 — at the time the largest and fastest passenger ship in the world. By spring 1915 she had been making regular Liverpool-to-New York crossings throughout the First World War, despite the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1915.

The German embassy in Washington had published a warning in 50 American newspapers on 22 April 1915, the day before the Lusitania’s scheduled departure from New York. The warning specifically named transatlantic shipping under British flag as liable to German submarine attack in the declared war zone around Britain. Cunard had reassured passengers that the Lusitania’s speed (25 knots, faster than any submerged German submarine) and size would protect her.

She departed New York on 1 May 1915 with 1,959 aboard.

2:10 p.m. on 7 May 1915

The German submarine U-20 under Lieutenant-Commander Walther Schwieger had been operating off the southern Irish coast for several days. The Lusitania entered Schwieger’s surveillance zone on the afternoon of 7 May 1915 — approximately 18 km off the Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse on the Cork coast.

Captain William Turner had slowed the Lusitania to 18 knots through coastal fog earlier in the morning. As the fog lifted he was conducting a four-point bearing on the lighthouse to establish position. The fix required several minutes of straight-line steaming at constant speed — the worst possible submarine target conditions.

Schwieger fired a single G6 torpedo at 2:10 p.m. at approximately 700 metres range. It struck the Lusitania on the starboard side just behind the bridge. A second internal explosion followed approximately 15 seconds later — the cause has been disputed since 1915. The Cunard and British government positions were that a coal-dust explosion, a steam-line rupture, or a second torpedo were responsible. The German position was that the Lusitania had been carrying illegal munitions (the 1982 archaeological investigation of the wreck confirmed approximately 4 million rounds of American Remington rifle ammunition aboard, which had been listed openly on the manifest, plus unfused artillery shells; the ammunition would not have detonated at torpedo impact).

The Lusitania listed severely to starboard within minutes. The list made the lowering of port-side lifeboats impossible — the boats either smashed against the hull or swung uselessly across the deck. The starboard lifeboats could be lowered but the list produced approximately 3-metre drops between the deck and the water that broke many of the boats on launching.

She sank by the bow in 18 minutes, going under at approximately 2:28 p.m.

The casualties

The death toll was 1,198 dead, 761 survivors. The dead included 128 American citizens — among them the New York theatrical producer Charles Frohman, the sports playwright Charles Klein, the Vanderbilt heir Alfred Vanderbilt, and the children’s author Justus Forman.

The Lusitania was the single most-killing submarine attack on a civilian passenger vessel in history.

What it did to American opinion

The American public reaction was substantial. President Woodrow Wilson had been neutral through the first nine months of the war. The Lusitania sinking shifted American press and popular opinion decisively against Germany. Wilson sent the first Lusitania note to Berlin on 13 May 1915 demanding reparations and an end to unrestricted submarine warfare. The subsequent diplomatic exchange ran across months.

Germany briefly suspended unrestricted submarine warfare in August 1915 to avoid American intervention. The suspension held until January 1917, when the German military command — calculating that American intervention was inevitable anyway — resumed unrestricted submarine attacks. The United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917.

What happened to the principals

Schwieger continued submarine operations after 1915. He was killed when U-88 (his subsequent command) struck a British naval mine north of Borkum on 5 September 1917, aged 32.

Captain Turner survived the Lusitania sinking — he was swept off the bridge and picked up alive from the water. He was formally exonerated by the British Mersey inquiry in July 1915, despite the political pressure to scapegoat him. He died of natural causes at Liverpool in June 1933, aged 76.

The wreck of the Lusitania lies at approximately 90-metre depth on the seabed approximately 18 km off the Old Head of Kinsale. The site is formally a war grave under 2008 Irish legal designation. The private salvor F. Gregg Bemis Jr purchased the wreck rights in 1968 and conducted multiple private dives across the 1990s-2010s; the Bemis estate holds the title in 2026 but the Irish heritage protection limits recovery activity.

The 1907 Hague Convention permitted submarines to sink merchant vessels provided the crews and passengers were provided with safe passage to lifeboats. The Lusitania attack violated the Convention’s cruiser rules. The post-war Versailles treaty negotiations specifically discussed whether Schwieger and the German naval command should be indicted for war crimes; the issue was dropped in the broader 1919 settlement.