Remember the Lusitania

[Kevin_73]

Torpedoed by a German submarine 100 years ago today. :sadangel:

Back from the dead: A miraculous survival on the Lusitania - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32591599)

[Kerrmudgeon]

If the Brits had explosives on board as the Germans say, why wasn't she protected by a naval convoy? All kinds of unanswered questions with that disaster....:(

[lspencer534]

If the Brits had explosives on board as the Germans say, why wasn't she protected by a naval convoy? All kinds of unanswered questions with that disaster....:(

According to a protocol called “prize rules,” U-boat commanders were obliged to announce their presence to non-military ships. This would allow passengers and crew to escape their doomed vessels and enter into lifeboats before shots were fired.

The British government secretly helped to pay for the construction of the lusitania, equipping it with concealed guns and using it to deliver munitions to Europe. During its fateful crossing of the Atlantic, the ship was carrying American-manufactured guns and ammunition as part of its cargo. And the Germans knew it.

The old practice of "prize rules" was abandoned, and merchant ships were sunk by U-boats with no advance notice.
How The Sinking Of The Lusitania Heralded An Entirely New Kind Of War (http://io9.com/how-the-sinking-of-the-lusitania-heralded-an-entirely-n-1702800197)

[DAB]

" mobs smashed any property that sounded remotely German"

not much has changed in 100 years...

[lspencer534]

" mobs smashed any property that sounded remotely German"

not much has changed in 100 years...

But perhaps for a different reason? The Nazis were truly despicable people.

[DAB]

But perhaps for a different reason? The Nazis were truly despicable people.

so are people that riot based on sketchy, incomplete information.

if you want to protest, protest (peacefully) after a case has reached a conclusion.

[mrvette]

But perhaps for a different reason? The Nazis were truly despicable people.

So R the islamics.....especially for allowing some in their midst to go nutz without some restraint....some societies grew up, most did NOT.....

:issues:

[Fasglas]

But perhaps for a different reason? The Nazis were truly despicable people.

Nazis were truly despicable, BUT, 1915 was a "tad" before their time.

[Kevin_73]

Nazis were truly despicable, BUT, 1915 was a "tad" before their time.

:iagree:

[Kerrmudgeon]

This is an interesting historical theory I wasn't aware of...the old arms as a commodity benefits vs thousands of lives lost at sea and in war. :(

The U.S. managed to stay out of the war, at least for a time. But the incident brought the point home that America was going to have to enter into the fray eventually. In the meantime, the supposedly neutral country would have its cake and eat it too by profiting from the sales of munitions to European combatants, while screaming bloody murder any time Americans were killed at sea.

[island14]

If the Brits had explosives on board as the Germans say, why wasn't she protected by a naval convoy? All kinds of unanswered questions with that disaster....:(


Questions were also asked as to why the huge ship only took 18 minutes to sink, with speculation that the Lusitania had been carrying heavy ammunition, causing a fatal second explosion. At the time, the Germans claimed the ship was "carrying large quantities of war material"

In 1918, a New York court established that the Lusitania was carrying 4,200 cases of small arms ammunition but was neither armed nor carrying explosives, and experts agree that the sinking broke international law. Divers have surveyed the wreck, with no explosives ever found.

Remembering the Lusitania: One passenger's remarkable story of survival - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32591594)