The+RMS+Lusitania+and+Submarine+Warfare+During+World+War+I

=Submarine Warfare in World War I= __**Overview**__
 * Submarine warfare** in WWI originated out of questions surrounding trade and commerce. Wilson and the United States had hoped that under **international law**, being an neutral nation, they would be permitted to trade with any belligerents (Allied and Central Powers). However, the British navy dominated the North Atlantic Ocean and forced all neutral merchant ships to be checked in their own ports. Many cargoes were confiscated, while American firms that traded with the Central Powers were even **"blacklisted"**, or ignored by their British partners. The United States was thus faced with a difficult dilemma, either to allow the British to make the rules and prevent **freedom of the seas** and therefore side against the Central Powers, or insist that the British accept international law and accordingly side against the Allies. Americans decided to attach themselves to the Allied cause, increasing commerce from **$825 million** in 1914 to **$3.2 billion** in 1916, while cutting off commerce with the Central Powers almost altogether. Britain and France had also borrowed over $2 billion from the US by 1917 (__The American Nation__).



At first the Germans were not concerned with American goods or commerce with the Allied Powers, but when the war over land turned to a stalemate, they looked to the seas. The Germans turned to a new weapon, the **U-boat** (for //Unterseeboot// or "underwater boat" in German). German submarines roamed the seas searching for merchant ships, but did not operate under the ordinary rules of war, which required a destroyer to stop its prey and give passengers time to evacuate. Instead, U-boats sent their **torpedoes** from below the surface and without warning, which caused a great loss of life. The Germans declared the waters around Great Britain a **zone of war** in February 1915 and announced all enemy merchant ships that were encountered would be sunk. Neutral ships would also enter the zone at their own peril, because many Allied ships often flew neutral flags in an attempt to pass by the Germans.

In the months leading up to the great Lusitania catastrophe, President Wilson informed the Germans that he would hold them **"strictly accountable"** for any loss of American life or property as a result of violations of **"acknowledged rights on the high seas."** However, Wilson did not distinguish between the loss of life on American vessels and on **//belligerent// vessels**. This policy was actually changing international law, as pointed out by Secretary of State William J. Bryan who said, "A ship carrying contraband should not rely upon passengers to protect her from attack--it would be **like putting women and children in front of an army**." (__The American Nation__). In this regard, the Germans could not be wholly blamed for attacking the Lusitania, a //British// liner.

__**Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and the First Battle of the Atlantic**__ At the outset of WWI, the German **U-boat campaign** contained only 30 operational boats with small torpedo capabilities in its arsenal and initially followed the **"Prize Rules"** of the allowance of the evacuation of the opposing crew. Early submarine highlights included the first combat victory, the sinking of the //**HMS Pathfinder**// in 1914, and the success of **U9**, which sank 3 British cruisers in under one hour. However, the slow evacuation process put the U-boats at the mercy of **Q-ships** and other anti-submarine measures employed by the British. As a result, the Germans turned to **unrestricted submarine warfare**. Following the controversy surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, unrestricted warfare was put on hold, but only until January 1917. At this point, the Germans sank almost a **quarter** of the ships that entered the war zone around the British Isles (Wikipedia) and this led directly to American entrance in World War I in April 1917. German submarines laid mines and attacked iron ore shipping in the Baltic. Additionally, Germany and Austria-Hungary mounted the **Mediterranean U-boat campaign** from 1914-1918, which caused substantial shipping losses.

** German Submarine Force 1914-1918 **

 * ~  ||~ 1914 ||~ 1915 ||~ 1916 ||~ 1917 ||~ 1918 ||
 * On hand || 24 || 29 || 54 || 133 || 142 ||
 * Gains || 10 || 52 || 108 || 87 || 70 ||
 * Battle losses || 5 || 19 || 22 || 63 || 69 ||
 * Other losses ||  || 8 || 7 || 15 || 9?? ||
 * Years end || 29 || 54 || 133 || 142 || 134 ||
 * Total operational boats: 351
 * Total sunk in combat (50%): 178
 * Other losses (11%): 39
 * Completed after Armistice: 45
 * Surrendered to Allied: 179


 * British and Allied** forces conducted their own submarine operations as well. Allied submarines roamed the **Baltic, North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea**. During the war, the British attempted to develop their own submarine that could operate in conjunction with a battleship fleet, the **"Fleet Submarine"** or **K class submarine**. The K class were steam powered to reach the 20 knot speed necessary to stay with battleships, but were a constant problem in practice as they could not work effectively with the fleets.



The **First Battle of the Atlantic** was the name given to the **naval campaign** of World War I from **1914-1918**. Generally fought around the British Isles and the Atlantic Ocean, both the Allied and Central Powers hoped to initiate a **blockade** on the other. The British relied on the well-known **Royal Navy**, which was superior in numbers and battleships, while the Germans utilized **submarine warfare**. The Allied forces were successful in blockading Germany in 1918, which contributed to its **military defeat** and the signing of the **Versailles Treaty**.

** Allied and Neutral Tonnage sunk by submarines in World War I **
= = =RMS Lusitania=
 * ~ Month ||~ 1914 ||~ 1915 ||~ 1916 ||~ 1917 ||~ 1918 ||
 * January ||  || 47,981 || 81,259 || 368,521 || 306,658 ||
 * February ||  || 59,921 || 117,547 || 540,006 || 318,957 ||
 * March ||  || 80,775 || 167,097 || 593,841 || 342,597 ||
 * April ||  || 55,725 || 191,667 || 881,027 || 278,719 ||
 * May ||  || 120,058 || 129,175 || 596,629 || 295,520 ||
 * June ||  || 131,428 || 108,855 || 687,507 || 255,587 ||
 * July ||  || 109,640 || 118,215 || 557,988 || 260,967 ||
 * August || 62,767 || 185,866 || 162,744 || 511,730 || 283,815 ||
 * September || 98,378 || 151,884 || 230,460 || 351,748 || 187,881 ||
 * October || 87,917 || 88,534 || 353,660 || 458,558 || 118,559 ||
 * November || 19,413 || 153,043 || 311,508 || 289,212 || 17,682 ||
 * December || 44,197 || 123,141 || 355,139 || 399,212 ||  ||
 * Total || 312,672 || 1,307,996 || 2,327,326 || 6,235,878 || 2,666,942 ||

__Overview__



The **Lusitania** was an ocean liner owned by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. It was known as "the Greyhound of the Seas", however, on **May 7, 1915**, it was sunk in 18 minutes by a torpedo fired from a **German U-Boat**, eight miles off the coast of Ireland. Of the 1,959 people aboard, approximately 61%, or 1,198 were killed. The Lusitania is considered by many to be the second most mourned, and second most famous sinking of any ocean liner in history, behind the RMS Titanic. Carrying a multitude of American passengers, it was on route from New York to Liverpool. On April 22nd, approximately 10 days before the ships departure, in American newspapers, the Germans published a **written warning**, advising against any American citizens from boarding the ship. The warning read as follows:

//** NOTICE! **////TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.// (Wikipedia) However, in the previous days, German U-Boats had sank three British merchant ships in the same area. As the Lusitania approached the most dangerous part of its journey, the captain William Turner slowed down, said to be worried by impending fog. With this loss of its most crucial asset, the Lusitania was in danger. As Turner constantly disobeyed conventional tactics to avoid U-Boats, he doomed the Lusitania. When U-20 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger found the Lusitania in its sights just south of Queenstown, Ireland, it was able to sink her with a single torpedo, penetrating the hull just below the waterline. The initial explosion set off a violent secondary blast, causing the ship to sink so quickly (PBS). Various conspiracy theories state that the second explosion was caused by explosives placed in the lower half of the ship, helping the Lusitania sink. These have never been proven. Of the 1,198 who died, 123 of those were American civilians (Wikipedia).
 * //IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY// ** //Washington, D.C. 22nd April 1915//



=__Impact and Public Reaction__=

=
It is said by many that the sinking of the Lusitania was instrumental in the entrance to **World War I** by the United States, and therefore indirectly, instrumental in the victory of the Allied Powers. The German government attempted to **justify** the sinking of the Lusitania by explaining that it was armed, and had quantities of war-like items. The Lusitania was officially classified as an **AMC**, or American Merchant Cruiser. Her cargo had included an estimated 4,200,000 rounds of rifle cartridges, 1,250 empty shell cases, and 18 cases of non-explosive fuses, all of which were listed in her manifest, but the cartridges were not officially classed as ammunition by the Cunard Line. As well, as justification for the sinking, the Germans claimed that the warning issued in American newspapers prior to departure relieved them of all responsibility for any deaths. As well, Dudley Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, **denied the German charges**, saying that the Lusitania had been inspected before departure and no guns were found, anywhere on the ship. A minority of the German public believed such a mass killing to be a proper action, and there was conflict within the nation (Wikipedia).======

=
//The Nation//, a weekly nonprofit United States periodical devoted to politics and culture, called it, "a deed for which a Hun would blush, a Turk be ashamed, and a Barbary pirate apologize". The British felt as though America should enter the war. On May 10th, 1915, Woodrow Wilson said the following, "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right" (__Crucible of Power__). He urged no rash action. Both he and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan insisted on warning the American people against boarding commercial liners, and publicize its dangers. However, unlike Bryan, Wilson insisted on an apology from the German government, to insure no event like this ever occur again.======



Within time, the internal turmoil within the German government forced them to rescind their **unrestricted submarine warfare policy**, stating that they could freely attack any liner which they considered a danger to their nation, their people, or their armed forces. Following the controversy surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, unrestricted warfare was put on hold, but only until January 1917. At this point, the Germans sank almost a quarter of the ships that entered the war zone around the British Isles (Wikipedia) and this led directly to American entrance in World War I in April 1917. Therefore, the sinking of the RMS Lusitania directly correlated to American entrance in World War I.

[[image:http://www-tc.pbs.org/lostliners/i/lus4.jpg caption="A Memorial Plaque For The Lusitania"]]
__-__"The Submarine in World War I" -"Submarine Warfare in World War I" -"World War I at Sea" -"German Submarine U-54" - 1917 German Film on Submarine U-35 - [|New York Times Article Regarding the Lusitania]
 * //__Links:
 * - ** [|Newspaper Article Responding to the Sinking of the Lusitania]__

__Sources:__//**
 * - __The American Nation: A History of the United States__ by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes **

- __Crucible of Power: A History of U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1897__ by Howard Jones
//-//http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-boat_Campaign_(World_War_I) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_warfare - http://www.vectorsite.net/twsub2.html - http://www.cityofart.net/bship/u_boat.html -http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania = = = = = =

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