Lusitania - How the Disaster Could Have Been Avoided

Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend  Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs   today i wanted to talk to you  about a topic that is of really   deep interest to me and that is the sinking of  the RMS Lusitania in the first world war in 1915.   now in May of that year she was very famously and  tragically torpedoed by the german submarine U-20   now the interesting thing about the  Lusitania to me as with all disasters   is that often there's usually not one thing  that goes wrong leading up to this situation   there's often a number of things that have had  to have failed for this to happen it's not unlike   Air Crash Investigation for those of you who've  watched that show i can't really think of any   one plane that was brought down by one failure  there's usually a number of things that have to   go wrong in the first place and so it is the case  with the Lusitania I can think of actually five   distinct areas where if one of these things  hadn't have happened then the Lusitania may   not have been put in harm's way and sunk when  she did so today let's count down and figure out   the five things that could have changed to have  prevented the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 Number one; mid-war sailings when the Lusitania  and her sister ship the Mauretania were first   introduced in 1906-1907 they were the very very  latest thing in shipbuilding they were the largest   and fastest ocean liners in the world but part  of their construction costs had actually been   covered/subsidised by the British government and  this was because of an agreement in place between   Cunard line the ship's owners and the British  government that at the outbreak of war in the   event of any future war Lusitania and Mauretania  would be deployed as armed auxiliary cruisers now   an auxiliary cruiser is a ship which has been  designed not necessarily as a warship but that   can be converted a little bit and set to sea  on military operations typically hunting down   say enemy merchant ships like cargo ships and  the like on the early plans for Lusitania and   Maureitania you can clearly see mountings that  were intended for the installation of six-inch   guns in the outbreak of a war this thought process  was largely because years earlier during the Boer   war ships had proved incredibly useful in  transporting troops en masse and a number   of White Star Line and Cunard commanders had  actually served as captains during those voyages   but just before the first world war it was thought  that giant ocean liners because they are so fast   and because they're so large would be really adept  at covering great distances quickly and hunting   down enemy merchant ships but when world war one  actually broke out the concept absolutely fell   apart because Lusitania and Mauretania along with  the likes of Olympic and Britannic and Aquitania   chewed up enormous amounts of coal - massive  amounts of fuel in fact actually keep these ships   serviceable and operating as armed cruisers would  have almost exhausted the entire reserve supply   of Royal Navy coal by three months into the war  so they couldn't do it therefore the entire line   of fleet was mothballed while they decided what  to do with them and in the case of Mauretania   and Olympic and Aquitania they were put to see as  troop ships Britannic was still under construction   during the outbreak of the first world war but she  was finished off as a hospital ship and crucially   the Lusitania was actually put to sea as an  ocean liner you see there was enough business   to warrant Cunard operating one transatlantic  liner from their home port of Liverpool all the   way across to New York and back still there were  passengers who wanted to seek refuge from the war   so there might have been refugees fleeing west  and therefore booking passage on the Lusitania to   get to the new world and get to America but  there are also people going back the other   way so you had missionaries you had aid workers  you had people wanting to be reunited with their   families if they had originally been from Europe  and that kind of thing so Cunard line reached an   agreement with the British Admiralty that  kept Lusitania in service incredibly as a   passenger ship in the middle of a war zone and of  course the number one threat to a passenger ship   such as the Lusitania is going to be German  submarines now U-boats aren't very fast a German   submarine could really only manage about nine  knots underwater and at best 15 knots surfaced   Lusitania's absolute secret weapon was her speed  she was capable of 25 knots which in peace time   is really useful because you can get across the  Atlantic and get passengers home safe and sound   in record time it's doubly useful during wartime  because suddenly German submarines in theory can't   catch you so so long as Lusitania can keep her  top speed going she should be okay so it's this   arrogant kind of thinking that the Lusitania would  be fast enough to outrun any danger at all times   that actually put her into harm's way in the first  place Number two; The Lusitania's secret cargo now   I mentioned earlier that Lusitania had originally  been built as a potential auxiliary cruiser now   this isn't really that good of a thing when you're  a passenger ship because suddenly on all the   official registries you are listed as an auxiliary  cruiser and as it was the case for Lusitania it's   probably doubly as bad if you're just trying  to maintain the guise of your passenger ship   being just that a passenger ship to load it up  with say ammunition for the war zone that it's   heading toward that would be against the rules but  Bunard and the British government did it anyway   thanks to relatively lax New York harbour customs  procedures the British admiralty and government   was able to establish a deal with the likes of  the Remington small arms company based in the US   to manufacture huge amounts of ammunition like  rifle rounds and shells and transport them back   to Britain even though the US was still neutral  and to obfuscate that and make it not that obvious   they employed the Lusitania to carry tons and  tons and tons of this ammunition back across   the Atlantic now you may have heard this figure  floated around that Lusitania was carrying among   other things four million rifle rounds now to put  that into perspective the standard British service   rifle of the first world war was the number  one mark three short magazine Lee Enfield rifle   now the short magazine the Enfield rifle had a 10  round magazine so you would load in two clips it   would have 10 bullets now the British soldier's  combat load of ammunition was carried in his 1908   pattern webbing which had two ammunition pouches  of 75 rounds each so that's around about 150 .303   rifle rounds per man so Lusitania on that single  voyage was carrying enough .303 rifle rounds   to completely resupply the combat load for 28,000  men which is actually two division's worth of men   and if Lusitania was making this crossing  every couple of weeks she could resupply   two whole divisions of soldiers on the front line  every couple of weeks that's the kind of resupply   that can make an actual dent in the war effort  towards the favour of the Allies so Lusitania's   efforts were no small thing that's a lot of  ammunition and on top of that she was carrying   thousands of shell casings and fuses and even  some explosive now I'm not suggesting necessarily   that this directly contributed to the sinking of  the Lusitania the Germans in fact may not have   definitely known that she was carrying this kind  of contraband munition but there were German spies   among the New York dock workers for sure there  were German spies operating all throughout the US   and it seems ridiculous to me to think  that they couldn't have got an inkling   about what was going on therefore painting a huge  target on the Lusitania so two things stacking up   here that the British government ignore the threat  of the U-boat fleet and decide with Cunard to keep   the Lusitania in operation as a passenger ship and  they load the ship with tons of ammunition thus   painting a target on the ship's back it should be  fine so long as she can keep up her speed right? Number three speed versus profit now this is a  small point but a very important point because I   mentioned earlier that Cunard had enough business  there was enough traffic going from across the   Atlantic both ways to warrant keeping Lusitania  in service the voyagers were booked nowhere near   as full as her normal peacetime sailings of course  most people probably weren't brave enough to want   to sail across the Atlantic in the middle of a  war zone totally fair enough but it meant that   profits were being eaten into and so the decision  was made to shut down some of Lusitania's boilers   and she was only operating at about three quarters  of her usual power which meant that her top speed   her secret weapon dropped from 25 knots to 21  knots now this isn't necessarily a problem 21   knots is still pretty quick for the time you  think that the RMS Olympic's top speed was about   22 knots at full clip she could outrun  danger she was pretty safe but it seems   really unusual to me to have your ship in harm's  way and then take away its most valuable asset   which is its great speed in fact at 25 knots there  is very little in the German fleet that could have   caught her the only thing I can think of are  the German battle cruisers like the Derfflinger   whose top speed was 26 and a half knots but their  role wasn't to chase down British passenger ships   so she would have been pretty safe if she had kept  to 25 knots across the Atlantic but okay that's   fine 21 knots that should be fine so long as she  does the 21 knots and doesn't go any slower right?   well! Number four; Captain Turner's many mistakes   it's very easy for me as a civilian enthusiast  to sit back here over a hundred years after the   sinking of the Lusitania and criticize and  fault her captain and I don't really want to   do that too much but the man made a number of  critical errors that put Lusitania increasingly   deeper into dangerous territory so  let's run through these real quick   couple of quick points about the man his name was  Bill Turner not to be confused with the Pirates of   the Caribbean Bill Turner his nickname was Bowler  Bill for his habit of buying a new bowler hat   every time he took command of a new ship he was  a veteran captain he had started in sail as many   of them had during the great era of the clipper  ships the sailing ships of the late 19th century   before joining the Cunard line and working his way  up to C.O and he had served on quite a few famous   passenger ships including the Umbria the Carpathia  and the Lusitania he had commanded Lusitania   during peace time he knew the ship well and he  knew the route well he knew the transatlantic   trade like it was the back of his hand the man  was a veteran he'd also been the chief officer   on the Umbria during the Boer war so in his mind  he's experienced shipping during wartime but that   was a very different war because at the time there  was no enemy submarine activity so you know this   is a bit of a new and dangerous world for turner  to kind of get his head around but so long as he   follows admiralty instruction he should be fine  so his orders are this to maintain full speed at   all times 21 knots to avoid headlands and to sail  mid-channel so that is to stay away from the coast   and stay far out at sea and to avoid harbours  where submarines would typically sit around and   wait for ships to torpedo now turner ignored all  of these directives on the day of the sinking he   was sailing just 15 miles off the coast of Ireland  now the final warning that was sent to Lusitania   detailed the fact that there was increased enemy  submarine activity off the south coast of Ireland   so Turner should have known that he had to sail  at full speed through that area to get out of   harm's way but a fog bank rolled in and he slowed  Lusitania way down from 21 knots to 18 and finally   15 knots for four hours Lusitania was crawling  along at 15 knots blasting her foghorn in the   middle of a war zone and the passengers noticed  and they were a little bit rattled and surprised   that they were broadcasting their position  and blowing their foghorn while crawling along   at really low speed but when the fog lifted  Turner powered the engines back up but not to   full power he only got the ship moving at 18 knots  instead of her lowered top speed of 21 knots so   he wasn't using the ship's great speed to stay out  of danger for some reason he kept her moving along   fairly slowly so he's been ordered to go full  speed through this area like there's no tomorrow   and he's slowed his ship down he's also been  advised to zigzag if you keep your ship moving   in an unpredictable way it's going to be really  hard to get a bearing on that ship if you're   a submarine captain but Turner misunderstood  his orders he claimed he said that he thought   he only had to zigzag if he spotted a submarine  so Lusitania was sailing straight ahead wasn't   taking any kind of evasive manoeuvre whatsoever  in waters that were known to be crawling with   German submarines now the final blunder that  Turner made was to conduct a routine four point   bearing off the old Head of Kinsale lighthouse on  the south coast of Ireland and that meant keeping   the Lusitania sailing straight ahead for about 40  minutes while he conducted this navigational check   it seems unbelievable to me that Turner found the  need to conduct a navigational check in a stretch   of water that he had traversed as captain of the  Lusitania dozens of times now he might have been   thinking it would be highly highly unlikely for  him and his ship to get so unlucky as to stumble   across a German submarine at that exact critical  moment while she was conducting the bearing   check she should be fine. Wrong! Number five;  Coincidence. Unbeknownst to Turner the Lusitania   had been shadowed by the U-20 for quite some time  now Captain Schwiger had the ship in his sights at   first he actually thought it was multiple ships  because of the numbers of funnels and masts   until finally it emerged that it was actually a  four-stacker he could count the four funnels and   he knew straight away that it could only be one  of five British ships the Mauretania the Aquitania   the Olympic the Britannic or the Lusitania he  never admitted to knowing exactly what ship it was   but Lusitania and Mauretania were celebrities  at that time they were some of the most famous   and well-known ships in the world not only that  but Lusitania's sailing schedule was advertised   in american newspapers it would have been obvious  that this was in fact the Lusitania even though   Schwieger of course never admitted that he knew  because then he would be admitting to firing   upon civilians willingly Lusitania was originally  sailing away from Schwiger in the U-20 and he   figured that he actually wouldn't be able to get a  shot off but then Turner started the bearing check   and brought Lusitania perfectly into U-20's sights  at 700 meters which is absolutely point-blank   range for a submarine commander Schwieger fired a  single torpedo it's incredibly coincidental that   at the time that Turner intended to conduct the  navigational check the U-20 was perfectly poised   to fire a shot off and some have even postulated  that the attack on the Lusitania by U-20 was   premeditated that the German navy was out  specifically to hunt down and destroy the   Lusitania in a blow to British morale now the  impact of the Lusitania's sinking has sometimes   been a little overstated as being the thing  that drew America into the first world war   because so many Americans died in the sinking  this isn't entirely true America would only   join the effort against Germany two years later  in 1917 but the sinking of the Lusitania helped   push public American opinion away from supporting  the Germans and more towards the British and also   helped the British admiralty push this idea of  the barbarism and aggression of the German navy in   targeting and sinking a passenger ship just like  any disaster there's not any one thing that can be   to blame for the sinking of the Lusitania we could  blame captain Turner's blunders for the sinking   but then what was she even doing there in the  first place? Why did Cunard feel the need to   continue to run this lone ship in order to  generate some meagre profit from whatever   small trade there was in passengers looking to get  across the Atlantic. Would the Lusitania have made   it if her top speed was more than 21 knots if  Turner felt that he could bring the ship back up   to 25 knots it seems feasible that the U-20 would  not have been able to catch and sink her. If the   U-20 didn't happen to be there if it was just a  couple of miles away or if he'd been held up by   slightly poorer weather the day before she  wouldn't have been in that perfect firing solution   to sink the ship but she was and those five key  things - that Cunard continued to operate the   Lusitania as a passenger ship through the  first world war, that they enabled her to   carry some pretty spicy cargo in the form  of millions of rifle rounds and ammunition   thus painting a legitimate target on the ship's  back, that she continued to operate with three   quarters of her boilers only and a reduced top  speed , that her C.O Will Turner made a number of   basic errors and ignored admiralty instruction  to the end and that the U-20 just happened to be   in the perfect position to land a killing blow  on the ship those five things ultimately led   to the ship's sinking and it's curious to wonder  if any one of them hadn't have happened then the   Lusitania might have had a career as long and  as successful as her sister ship the Mauretania Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike  Brady from Oceanliner Designs! Thank you   so much for watching this video please  think about liking and subscribing to   the channel every little bit helps and i aim  to make a video like this once every week so   you'd hate to miss out or you could support  my channel on Patreon you'll find the link   down in the description until then stay safe  stay happy and i'll see you again next time

Channel: Oceanliner Designs

Views: 183,256

Keywords: great ocean liners, maritime history, ocean liners, famous oceanliners, ships documentary, history of ships

Id: glCv3-stgVE

Length: 18min 10sec (1090 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 11 2022