The Incredible Career of RMS Lusitania

it's summer 1907 and off the coast of Scotland a brand new luxury liner plows its way through the gentle sea this ship is a revolutionary step forward the largest liner yet built in Britain by far for 2 years an army of workers has toiled long and hard to fill the cous Hull with the finest luxuries ever seen at Sea now she's on her Builder trials in the fth of Clyde it's an important day the ship is the biggest yes but she also has to be the fastest every part of her being has been constructed with speed in mind if she can't hit 24 knots then her Builders will be penalized and the ship might prove an embarrassment representatives of the owners the builders and the admiralty all gather on the bridge and the wind rips at their baller hats as the speed picks up now she's moving all ahead full her four propellers tearing through the ocean with furious intent like a long thin knife the liner cuts her way through the waves with ease 20 knots 21 22 can she hit the target the men collectively hold their breaths and wait Lucitania was the Modern Marvel of her time an engineering wonder that combined all of the lessons learned from Decades of hard work and Ingenuity she became a household name for her beauty and her grace and she carried tens of thousands in comfort and happiness across one of the world's largest oceans but Lucitania would not be remembered for her luxury or her revolutionary design instead this great ship's career would be virtually forgotten and over shadowed instead by horrific tragedy in 1915 worlds collided when Lucitania the Marvel of her era met another technological wonder that would change the course of history the [Music] submarine I the this Islander to for Comm more A Series of Unfortunate Events would lead to a chance encounter that would leave hundreds dead and one of the world's finest ships reduced to a rusting pile of wreckage on the sea floor Toro [Music] but how Lucitania came to be and the path that led to her destruction is one of the most incredible tales in modern history that bright Day in June 1907 saw Lucitania at her best brand new and raring to show what she could do her turbine engines roared the bow wave glowed white at her waterline 22 knots 23 could she make the speed record Lucitania sped on ahead and into the history [Music] box May 1st 1915 New York City on a busy Saturday the air hums with life at brush Stadium the Yankees are demolishing the Philadelphia [Applause] Athletics cars choke the city streets chauffeurs and taxi drivers drop off their passengers at the docks for a waiting steamer in the New York Times on page 19 after the stock reports and the real estate notices varsity football news and baseball scores readers could find the outgoing and incoming steam ships their destinations and Times of sailing individual lines posted advertisements the big names like White Star Line but sandwiched in between notices for the anchor line and the new Stockbridge Hotel was a conspicuous warning notice it read Travelers 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 Travelers Sailing In The War Zone on ships of Great Britain or Allies do so at their own risk it's an obvious L ominous message and just a few lines above it could be found printed in block letters the name Lucitania because she was due to steam out of New York Harbor that very day early in the morning that Saturday Lucitania sat mored at Cunard lines Pier 54 a steady stream of passengers boarding from gangways and finding their staterooms on board Lucitania was going to steam her way through a war zone this was not one of Lucitania normal sailings her Captain was quiz quized by newsman on his confidence in being able to outrun his enemy the newspaper notices had roused a huge amount of angst never mind he had said Lucitania could outrun any submarine but his confidence couldn't shake the pole of concern that hung over the Chelsea Piers that morning as passengers swarmed the decks to wave their final goodbyes and the Lucitania whistles boomed out through the haror some worried that this would be the great ship's last ever sight of New York and they were right within the week three and five of the beaming faces that lined lucane railings would smile no more but what ended as a tragedy had begun years earlier as a Monumental Triumph and this birth at New York had been the scene of many a joyous homecoming because there had once been a time when Lucitania was the finest ship in the [Music] world in 18 48 a curious looking ship chugged its way into New York Harbor for the first time aptly named America the ship carried a distinctive tall Red Smoke Stack with thin black bands The Telltale paint scheme of a shipping company that would one day become an Empire Samuel kunard had founded his line in 1840 with ships that ran initially between Liverpool Halifax and Boston a few years later had come to dominate the transatlantic passenger trade mail contracts and government subsidies meant making a line between Liverpool and New York was a profitable Venture for the company the result was a quartet of purpose-built paddles ships America as the class leader and regular sailings into New York Harbor it was the start of a relationship between Cunard line and New York City that lasts to this day but as the 1850s and 1860s wore on competition emerged Fierce competition the White Star Line the Inman line Germany's North German Lloyd they all began to compete with kunard and it sparked the equivalent of an arms race as every few years each line tried to outdo the others by introducing the biggest fastest and most luxurious ship it was a game of tit fortat that would last well into the 20th century kard had plenty of wins in this contest but in 1897 Germany shocked the shipping World almost into stunned silence North German Lloyds SS Kaiser vam de glossa was the world's first so-called super ler distinctively she carried four enormous tall funnels almost overnight virtually every other liner in the world looked second best by comparison now this wasn't just a fun contest anymore national pride was tied up in the development of these ships they became floating Billboards for their home Nations underscoring the development of the ocean liner a beautiful symbol of peace and prosperity had been the ugly development of weapons of war torpedo boats submarines and mighty battleships the major nations of the world stockpiled immense quantities of weapons never before properly used on the battlefield machine guns filled artillery it seemed inevitable that there would be a boiling point reached someday soon but most hoped that cooler heads would Prevail kunard Li's fleet was in the early 1900s being completely overshadowed by the German companies particularly North German Lloyd who followed up on their success with a trio of impressive sister ships for the kais of vhem DEA for kunard this was a serious business threat for Britain itself it simply would not do the British admiralty knew they needed a horse in the race ships capable of great speed that were the size of the German liners had obvious military potential but there was a problem the White Star Line originally a British company had been bought by an American conglomerate it left only one serious transatlantic player in British control one horse in the race that the admiralty could back to answer the German threat cardline cunard's chairman Lord inly was nothing if not a shrewd businessman after taking over from his father and over the course of four decades he had successfully navigated the company into the modern era of ship building now with both his countries and his company's reputations as stake he turned to the British government appealing for investment towards a pair of liners that could outperform anything else afloat the old agreements with the admiralty ran deep with Cunard the government naturally agreed but under one condition these proposed ships needed to be built to admiralty specifications so that they could easily be repurposed into warships in the event of the outbreak of War inoc agreed and history was about to be made under the agreement Cunard was offered a vast loan and a yearly subsidy if the liners could maintain a maximum average speed of 24 1/2 knots and a minimum of 232 just hitting those speeds wouldn't do they needed to be easily maintained as passenger carrying ocean liners it would make them the fastest ships in the world by far this would serve a vital role in a potential war effort the simple installation of guns could transform these speed Queens into vicious Hunters extremely difficult to catch the papers were signed and so it was that two of history's most famous and glamorous peacetime liners were designed with a secret purpose and War in mind work officially began on Hull number 367 on June 16th 19 1904 when heril was laid down at the John Brown and Co Shipyard in Scotland when construction officially got underway it was clear that almost every aspect of the ship's design could be summed up in one word unprecedented immediate adjustments needed to be made within the shipyard to accommodate the liner's immensity the slipway used for the ship's construction was the size of two smaller slipways from the previous generation combined adding to this was another unusual conundrum for engineers the ship 700 87 ft 240 M length was greater than the width of the river Clyde where the shipyard was actually located meaning she'd need to be launched diagonally using the additional length afforded by nearby tributary overseen by legendary Naval architect Leonard pesit Engineers began to map out a ship with aggressively Fine Lines hitting and maintaining those required speeds was a tall order the ship would need to prioritize speed Above All Else her plans show it the hull was long and extremely fine like a chisel pescat design teams tested models in an admiralty tank and refined the stability this was cuttingedge technology for the day the ship's straight Plum bow would mean the liner would cut its way through the worst of the Atlantic's towering waves but the radical Hull form would be useless without a suitably powerful engine to drive it forward and fortunately John Brown and the card line had just the thing for it the miracle machine was the Parsons turbine an innovation in engine design that could easily outperform the older style of triple expansion steam engines that was popular at the time steam rushed through Under Pressure to turn a giant rotor and the ship's propellers the new liner would have four main turbines giving her a brute force of some 60 to 70,000 horsepower it would need almost an unthinkable amount of steam to feed the turbines 25 fire tube boilers lined the ship's bottom fed by hand by hundreds of stokers who would need to shovel tons of coal around the clock to keep the ship roaring ahead but the exact layout of this machinery and how all those hundreds of tons of massive steel and iron equipment could even fit inside such a fine hole was still being decided on not only that but the admiralty had their own ideas of how things should be arranged below the water line when constructing liners it was typical for work on the hull to begin at both ends and then eventually meet in the middle but in Lucitania case all work began at the bow it left more time for the ship's engineers and machine workers to fine-tune the power plant that would be loaded into the ship's Hull and would ultimately be responsible for her cracking speeds the design process took two long years in 1902 pescuit original concept showed a Sleek ship with three enormous funnels but by the time the power plant had been chosen it was clear that more boilers were needed more boilers meant another Smoke Stack to clear the smoke yard number 367 would be a for funnel [Music] ship on a clear bright June day in 1906 after months of construction the ship was at last ready for her launch the sun beat down on her gleaming name plate there it spelled out Lucitania it wasn't every day that the world's largest ocean liner took to the water for the first time and almost every employee of John Brown and Co Shipyard was given the day off for the event and passes were handed out to friends and family towering over their heads Rose the bow of the largest ship ever built seemingly touching the sky in its immensity Lord inly had died before lucania design could really get off the ground but his wife lady inoc was there that day to launch the ship with a crash a bottle of champagne detonated against the steel plated bow and as a band performed Ral Britannia Lucitania rumbled down the slipway which had been coated in tons of Tallow and grease to ease her in to the sounds of cheers and whistles the hull floated for the very first time a monument to engineering and human achievement [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now came the task of turning this empty Hull into a working living ship six tugs came alongside Lucitania and towed her a few hundred feet down the Clyde River to her fitting out birth where she would receive the bulk of the Interior fixtures and Furnishings that would rival most hotels on land and the immensely powerful Machinery that would make her the fastest ship on the ocean for months workers toiled Artisans carved and laborers carted intricately detailed panels and slowly the bare steel interior was clad with the finest decoration available electricians installed miles and miles of wiring thousands of globes call buttons lifts and Motors the immense boilers the Monstrous turbines they were all lifted and sealed into the ship like the internal organs of some giant sea creature riveted on top were four towering Smoke Stacks each about as tall as most office buildings in New York City with construction and fitting out complete the ship would now need to undergo her sea trials Lucitania was a unique case though as cunard's Crown Jewel it was vital that all went according to plan any less than the best would be a serious blow to reputation to account for this the ship's First Sea trials were actually performed somewhat in secret so that if any problem arose the ship's owners could make adjustments without attracting negative attention from the public and the Press on July 27th 1906 Lucitania made Steam and surged ahead under her own power for the very first time joining the ship's crew were representatives from the shipyard kunard line the Board of Trade and the British admiralty both cunard's reputation and British national pride were at stake and the deal truck between card and the admiralty added an extra layer of pressure if the liner did not meet her required speed of 24 1/2 knots as set by the admiralty the shipyard would face a penalty of £10,000 for every 1/10th of a knot below requirement up to a total of £ 100,000 or 15 million in today's money slowly the engines were worked up the stokers poured the coal into the furnaces and the turbines rumbled as all four propellers churned the water into into violent white turmoil 20 knots then 21 22 23 24 and a half knots Lucitania had done it with the nimbleness of a steam yacht she slipped through the water triumphantly as if her 44,000 ton weight were a mere trifle she had exceeded all expectations [Music] card and John Brown breathed a collective sigh of relief but it wouldn't be all good news the ship's powerful machinery and the arrangement of her propellers created a much dreaded problem interference between the wakes of the different sets of propellers was causing a shocking vibration which resonated with the stern and reverberated through the hull it was passed directly into the passenger accommodations at the stern a rattling so Fierce that it clearly rendered the affected spaces mostly second and third class accommodations to be virtually unusable having been spared serious public scrutiny as a result of the trial's relative secrecy Lucitania found herself at the Canada Dry Dock where workers tried to address the problem the fine towering second class Dining Saloon was ripped out and rebuilt with new bracing where there had previously been open space columns now pierced the decks the decor was reinstalled and by the time the rebuild was completed the rattling had diminished somewhat but it would never be fully resolved Lucitania would suffer from the issue for the rest of her career such was the price of technological innovation [Music] on September 7th 1907 after the initial trials were completed and after a short test Voyage around Ireland nearly a quarter of a million people lined the mercy as the ship arrived at her home Port Liverpool for the very first time tied up alongside she absolutely dwarfed The Landing stage taking up the space three regularly sized Steamers normally might under cover of Darkness Lucitania cast off from The Landing stage at 9:00 p.m. Bound for Queenstown Ireland and then the open ocean aboard her were around 2,200 people the paint still smelled fresh and much of the onate Crockery and Cutlery had never yet served a meal with a boom Luc 's voice echoed around Liverpool's Skyline and thousands of voices cried out in joy as she set off on her maiden voyage Lucitania was finally going to do the job she'd been designed to do [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] Lucitania first Commander was Captain James B Watt and as he gazed down at his ship's Mighty boughs crashing through the waves he must have been filled with an immense sense of Pride the ship's first stop had been Queenstown Ireland before she'd made a southwesterly course for the new world Lucitania steamed LLY through the ocean and she was proving to be every inch the speed demon she had been cracked up to be approaching New York the ship had steamed straight past the bewildered white Starliner Celtic which had set off 2 days before her from Liverpool aboard the ship passengers on the maiden voyage were immersed in a world of comfort and luxury few before had experienced one look at Lucitania Sumptuous interiors and you can see how she became an instant favorite especially among society's Elite there was no shortage of luxury to be found on board and it was very modern from electric lighting through throughout as well as electric lifts a clever form of air conditioning and heating by way of thermotank and the newest and finest in Marone Wess telegraphy Lucitania was truly a ship for a new age towering public rooms and entrances gave the ship a light and Airy feeling first class was naturally the most opulent and celebrated the lavishly designed accommodations were the work of Scottish interior designer James Miller they could be best described as palatial a spectacle of Airy plaster workor High ceilings and stunning stained glass the Luth 16th Style Dining Saloon could seat 470 passengers between its twostory structure and was topped with an enormous Dome that was adorned with decorative frescos and handcarved moldings the well-appointed lounge and music room was the most popular Gathering Spot for first class and its breathtaking mahogany detailing Rich Green carpet and massive 20ft High Barrel voled Skylight crowned the roof room it was made up of 12 different stained glass panels each artfully depicting a different month of the year at either end lay two magnificent green marble fireplaces each 14 ft High the room was especially attractive to female passengers who are known to pass the time on board with their noses firmly in a book or excitedly writing letters and postcards home to friends and family it also functioned as a well stocked Library where passengers could check out books for the duration of the voyage further after the first class smoking room was a space tailored to the men on board with darker richer wood paneling and Furnishing setting it in sharp contrast to the light and Airy feel of the rest of the ship like other spaces the smoking room was topped with a massive Barrel volted stained glass ceiling that served to brighten and open the room up to help passengers get through the ship more comfortably designers were faced with a problem sprawling magnificent stair cases had long been the normon ships and that worked fine if your vessel was only a few decks high but liners like Lucitania towered 10 stories above the waterline electric passenger lifts fitted inside glass encased RW iron cages ran up and down to Ferry the passengers where they needed to go another feature that marked Lucitania out as a ship of the future for those looking to get some sun located further off on the boat deck The Veranda Cafe a room open at one end was filled with light wicker furniture and Palms with a skylight above for those enjoying light Refreshments inside it was something like sit on a veranda in the French Riviera of course the luxury of the public rooms carried over into the passengers accommodations first class itself was almost segregated by the variety and sizes of the cabins available some were way down in the ship's Hull but at the top of the list and for the small sum of Just Around $100,000 per Crossing in today's money first class passengers traveling on Lucitania could be treated to one of the Regal Suites that came complete with two bedrooms a sitting room a dining room room a private bathroom a lavatory and a pantry this was ad wardian opulence at its most obscene second class on Lucitania was probably where the ship shined most in the market because truly to travel in second class aboard this ship was as good as traveling first class on any other liner and it wasn't just hyperbole or exaggeration second class got its own towering Dining Saloon and palacial lounges it had been a clever calculated decision by Kuno instead of relying on the shipyard alone they had broken with protocol by appointing the ship's interior designer James Miller to advise on how best to design second class as well what resulted was a series of spacious comfortable public spaces decorated in the same georan and Louis 16 styles that could be found in their first class counterparts Rich mahogany Airy plaster detailing it was all on display here offering a feeling of luxury unlike any other second class space at Sea unfortunately as we know these spaces suffered from a fatal floor vibration the fix applied by the shipyard saw many stabilizing beams and archways installed to reduce the vibrations which the builders and designers Tastefully disguised with wood paneling and guilt Trim in third class passengers were treated to luxury akin to second class on other liners dining smoking and general rooms featured Timber paneling this in an era where most ships house steerage in simple white painted steel compartments with exposure osed piping most impressively the passengers on board were flushing toilets for many migrants this would be their first encounter with such novelty so too with electric lights in all cabins it's the kind of thing we take for granted today but the simple presence of those features marked Lucitania out as a true Wonder of her age for a few house on days in that September Crossing passengers chattered happily ate heartily and relaxed as their fine ship sliced through the Atlantic at a break neck clip with New York fast approaching Whispers began to spread on board of the possibility of a record-breaking Crossing on Lucitania first try her speed had steadily increased each day throughout the journey in the hopes of steaming into New York quickly enough to clinch the record for Britain once again from Germany but it was not to be the truth was that watt had no intention of breaking the record that Voyage he had wanted to work his ship's engines up first even so Lucitania missed breaking the German speed record record by just 30 minutes that was enough to make the north German Lloyd line sweat as Lucitania steam pass Statue of Liberty for the first time she was met with a welcoming committee of 200 vessels waiting to escort her to her birth a massive flag bearing a message of Welcome hung from the singer building sirens were sounded guns were fired into the air and hundreds of thousands of onlookers crowded the peers on her march to her birth she slowly and gradually lowered her blue enen as acknowledgement of the warm welcome she hadd been given despite the disappointment that the ship had failed to capture the speed record kunard officials assured the public that it was simply a matter of time on her second voyage Lucitania would prove herself in Spades she became the first liner to ever completed transatlantic Crossing in under 5 days and she reclaimed the speed record for Great Britain there was much celebration that evening in Lucitania first class dining room with the ship's purer Joseph Lancaster offering a jointy limmerick which ran there was a young man in West failure who had charge of much costly regalia to his sweetheart he said my dear when we're wed we call our first girl Lucy tenia North German Lloyd on the other hand was none too happy about this turn of events jealously noting in the press that the Kaiser vham DEA had logged more miles on their Crossings than Lucitania had on her maiden voyage and that Lucitania had not exceeded the daily speed average of the German vessel but she had broken the record that mattered having made the Crossing in an unheard of 4 days 19 hours and 52 minutes overnight she became a household name and the pride of her home nation but more importantly than that she was a happy ship the golden years of Lucitania career had begun [Music] Lucitania career was not without its eventful moments early on the electrical fittings such a Wonder though they were proved extremely Troublesome with bulbs blowing regularly and circuits shorting the extreme finess of the liner's hull also made for some Curious Behavior she was known to suddenly and alarmingly drop underfoot in even relatively calm seas which could send unready passengers or stewards sprawling just 2 months after a Voyage in late 1907 her semi sister ship morania joined her on the Liverpool to New York run both ships had been built by rival shipping firms to feed and benefit from the competitive Spirit they looked similar from the outside but on the inside where Lucitania was light Airy and elegant morania was dark cozy and more classic more importantly though the new ship was fast morania beat Lucitania speed record Luc tried again in 1909 to rest the title back from her sister when she had her original three-bladed propellers replaced with new more modern four-bladed screws she won the record back but morania beat her once again shortly after and held the record for another 20 years the real winner of this inter Fleet rivalry was kunut who could proudly boast the world's two largest and fastest liners the Towering red funnels of the ships became a regular and welcome site in New York City and in 1910 massive new series of peers and sheds was built to help service the influx of enormous new liners New York's iconic Chelsea peers were finished and the kunard ships at last had a terminal that matched their modernity then in the winter of 1910 Lucitania was almost lost a storm had battered the US east coast and it had proved fatal snowfall caused havoc and the Atlantic was at its absolute worst [Music] less than 50 years prior any ship caught in those conditions would be fighting for its very life but Lucitania cut through the waves with relative ease although even her famous speed had to be curtailed to do it the ship had been built tough with Decades of modern Maritime engineering expertise behind her and she pressed on through the angry Seas with waves cresting over her deck and her superstructure with a thunderous D that was reminiscent of gunfire Captain William Turner had slowed his ship down to around 16 knots in order to carefully Traverse the storm and the liner was handling herself ad depthly gracefully cresting wave after wave as they rolled towards her but on this particular night the ocean was looking to unleash its true Fury as Lucitania rode over the crest of one wave her bow dipped down toward the water just as a veritable wall of water some 70 or 80 feet high Rose from the sea in front of her blocking out even the sky there was no avoiding it it came crashing down onto the vessel with unimaginable Force water violently washed over the decks down the entire length of the ship burying her bow and superstructure beneath the surface the crew stationed in the Wheelhouse were thrown against bulkheads and the ship's wheel was actually ripped from the telemotor and hurled across the room along with the quarter Masters who were still holding on to it above their heads on the compass platform above the bridge at the very top of the superstructure a seaman was alarmed to find the enormous ship beneath his feet simply disappear into the ocean as white water swirled around his knees Lucitania wasn't done though she zoomed up out of the water with force and she regained her trim she had survived a brush with an extremely rare Rogue Wave it hadn't been pretty lifeboats were smashing against the deck or torn off entirely and the front of the bridge had been crushed by the force of the water crumpling it back several inches the bridge Windows nearly an inch thick were all smashed davits were twisted like tin foil doors were broken bulkheads in the steward's quarters were bent it took 15 minutes for the lights on board to be restored and another 40 minutes before the ship could once again get underway miraculously Lucitania survived this violent puming and was able to carefully navigate her way toward New York battered and bruised But ultimately still in good health her arrival with bridge Windows smashed and boarded up run front page on New York's newspapers the celebrity liner seemed to have cheated death but sadly time would soon show that she had merely delayed it life for Lucitania and her sister ship carried on with a regular happy routine but then in 1911 there came the long anticipated answer from cunard's old rivals Olympic was put into service by the white Starline that summer for her inaugural season she dwarfed even the Lucitania the kunard sisters could no longer boast to be the largest pair of liners at Sea because Olympic was going to get a sister ship soon as well Lucitania was just departing when Olympic first docked in New York in 1911 and in an act of unusual bad faith her commander didn't recognize Olympic and Lucitania whistles weren't sounded nor were her Flags lowered in salute she simply left in jealous silence the following years would prove more lively for the card Greyhound in early 1912 the schedule was changed for Lucitania and her sister they would begin departing New York hours earlier than normal at 1:00 a.m. with morania sailing on Mondays and Lucitania on Wednesdays it would give passengers Bound for Ireland plenty of time to disembark at fish guard in Wales where they could hop a fairy home and then Lucitania could land her passengers at a reasonable hour in Liverpool this was at the the beest of the Irish Parliament after card had halted stops in Ireland during return trips eastbound she still wouldn't call it Ireland but at least this was a good compromise leaving at 1:00 a.m. might have seemed like a strange choice but it proved surprisingly popular the New York Times happily reported in full sincerity that it gave passengers time enough to attend the theater beforehand they stepped aboard about 11:00 p.m. still dressed in their theater clothes from then until 1914 the 1:00 a.m. departure became Lucitania routine then in April of 1912 there came a Monumental shock Olympics anticipated sistership Titanic was introduced and lost on her maiden voyage it was a huge blow to the transatlantic passenger trade as a hole the Scandal had been that Titanic should ever be allowed to go to sea with not nearly enough lifeboats for all on board but the truth was that virtually all large passenger ships did the same Lucitania was loaded with a small ftill of lifeboats and collapsibles that would eventually provide space for 2,600 people then in mid 1913 the ship began to experience problems with her vaunted turbines that resulted in her being pulled from service and refitted by then Lucitania wasn't the largest ship nor the fastest ship in the world anymore but she was arguably the most lovely her Interiors still appealed the wealthy and the well traveled they all flocked to her and she and morania did so well for kunard that a third ship aquitania was laid down for introduction in 1914 it all seemed to be going so well but then almost overnight everything changed the year aquitania entered service the tensions that had long been building between Britain France and Germany began to heighten the boiling point was at last reached on Sunday August 2nd 1914 Lucitania departed New York bound for Liverpool on her usual return home but this would prove to be anything but a usual Voyage she left under a poll of uncertainty the Austrian Archduke had been assassinated the week prior Germany seemed poised to invade France at any moment in support of its allies diplomats frantically negotiated and the newspapers and telegraphs ran with the latest news Lucitania would need to make her usual scheduled Crossing regardless of the outcome 2 days into her Voyage alarming news finally came through on the ship's Wireless set it had happened Britain had declared war on Germany Lucitania was now a trophy to be hunted her passengers woke to find their ship being transformed the gorgeous card red funnels had been painted over in a dark gray so too her brilliant white super structure Cunard with its close admiralty ties had suspected that war was likely to break out on this Voyage they' loaded her with stocks of gray paint just in case case The Vessel was disguised so that she could blend into the Atlantic and make good her escape the great out Lucitania arrived in Liverpool a few days later a bizarre sight given how dreb she looked but as it would happen a few cans of gray paint were not the only preparations kunard and the admiralty had made for lucenia in Wartime because the ship beneath the passenger's feet had a series of secret features which might have shocked them had they known admiralty involvement in Lucitania design had been heavy from the start when they held the hull model tests at their tank but then it manifested in other forms as well of course the ship was designed to be very fast thanks to her turbines and her Hull shape but that wasn't all everything below the waterline had to be designed with Warfare in mind the Admiral's grand plan was actually to convert ships like Lucitania and morania into armed Merchant Cruisers warships with guns designed to engage other Cruisers or enemy Merchant ships Lucitania had been designed to actually engage enemy vessels in combat from the very beginning the most obvious evidence of this can be found on her original deck plans obvious locations for 6-in guns were marked out around the decks and the mounting points for those guns were actually installed beyond that though was the ship's Hull itself every consideration had been given to what might happen if Lucitania found herself in a gunfight with another ship her mechanical heart had to to be protected at all costs the admiralty had stipulated that transverse coal bunkers had to run the length of the hull and provide a shield to The crucial boilers meanwhile every major piece of Machinery was to be housed well below the waterline where it might be protected from small caliber shellfire the balanced Rudder was designed to Navy standard it impacted the shape of Lucitania Stern which more resembled that of a cruiser or Battleship but crucially the steering engine room with its emergency steering platform complete with ship's Helm and Compass binnacle was also located partly below the waterline on many other ships of the era the steering engines were often mounted much higher up if Lucitania Bridge was shut away the ship could be steered and operated almost entirely from this special compartment protected from enemy shells this would be unlike any War the British admiralty had ever fought because they were facing for the first time ever a new and deadly foe Germany had invested heavily in submarine technology their fleets of OTS were well- commanded and crude and deadly efficient at first Britain seemed rather unconcerned by these new fangled machines but this would soon change on September 22nd 1914 the German un torpedo and sank three British warships in one morning for the cost of hundreds of lives this forced the British to recognize the ubo for the existential threat that it truly was if Germany could sink in enough ships Britain would starve the outbreak of the Great War had Unleashed hell upon Europe almost overnight the passenger trade across the Atlantic ceased the great liners of the world were mothballed while their owners waited to see what would happen next and then one by one old agreements with the admiralty began to be enacted and ships were called up for service somewhat ironically even though Lucitania and morania had been designed with the conflict in mind their immensely coal hungry power plant kept admiralty from calling on them for service as armed Merchant Cruisers they just consumed far too much coal almost 900 tons of the staff every day the delay in calling the ships up for service was fortuitous because in practice liners actually made four terrible armed Merchant Cruisers they were damaged and sunk in alarming numbers the kunata carmania accidentally stumbled across the German liner capture falga which had been disguised of All Ships on the ocean as the carmania even though she was just fighting another ocean liner carmania was badly damaged in the conflict and almost sunk the admiralty had other plans for Lucitania instead of going into Service as a warship it was vital that a seink between Great Britain and America still be maintained important diplomats and figures could get across the Atlantic in less than a week aboard the legendary card ship speed was after all her most valuable asset but crippling coal shortages meant there had to be concessions her average speed was reduced from 26 knots to around 21 which was still an impressive enough clip and quick enough to outrun any uboat at the time no vessel making more than 14 knots had ever been successfully sunk by a submarine in the morning of February 4th 1915 another alarming message arrived aboard Lucitania while she was mid ocean Germany had enacted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare it meant that Germany had declared a war zone off the coast of Britain and Ireland with the passing of this declaration any British ship be it Merchant passenger or otherwise was considered a Justified Target of War on Lucitania Bridge was Captain Daniel da a card veteran of some four decades he took Germany's threats very seriously the night before the ship arrived in Liverpool Dow stayed on the bridge throughout the night keeping a close watch for surf as submarines and concocting a plan to hopefully keep his ship and her passengers safe from Attack he reason that as long as a torpedo did not cause an explosion in the boilers Lucitania should live for about an hour after being hit with this time frame in mind he drew up a detailed plan to ensure all passengers could be safely carried off the ship in her lifeboats before she founded da also made the decision to fly the American flag a flag of neutrality on Lucitania M head during the final day of her Voyage a move which would prove very controversial and carry serious implications for the conventions of Naval Warfare if Dow's strategy was to pass Lucitania off as an American ship it probably would not have been very effective since Lucitania was one of the most recognizable vessels afloat and America had no four funnel liners of her own regardless when the ship docked the Liverpool Landing stage erupted with reporters eager to know the reasoning behind the usage of this kind of false flag Captain da assured the press that there was no sub auge intended he was merely signaling the presence of neutral American passengers Crossing on his vessel an American journalist reporting on the whole Affair though wrote that Britannia not only ruled the waves but also waved the rules after the false flag incident in Liverpool da completed one last Crossing on Lucitania before stepping down as the ship's Master he was no longer able to justify the stress of operating a ship that had been marked as a Justified Target of war in an enemy war zone while likely transporting Contraband across the Atlantic da had spent five wartime voyages commanding Lucitania and on each one he was known to scarcely leave the bridge hardly eating or sleeping keeping a constant watch for submarines eventually he developed stomach ulcers thanks to the stress and the lack of proper nourishment Cunard approved his request for sick leave and command of Lucitania was handed back over to Captain William Turner meanwhile Captain DA's actions had caused a ripple effect that found its way to a very unamused Germany the Germans of course had not taken kindly to Britain's clever loophole members of the press insisted that a British ship flying the flag of a neutral country should be illegal and that the practice left no way for German OTS to discern between neutral and non-neutral ships on the warfront the Imperial German Navy gradually continued uping the ante over the months that followed in response to what they saw as Britain's attempt to skirt the conventions of War by the May of 1915 the gloves were off Germany now had its sights directly on British passenger vessels and they were very clear about their intentions previously a submarine would engage an enemy merchant ship by first surfacing forcing it to stop surrender and evacuate before then sinking it in an orderly fashion the ubot crews had been horrified when their prey began to fight back sometimes with guns and even with attempts at ramming Lucitania false flag may have been one of the final straws now German OTS could attack unseen at any time from below the surface the German ambassador to America Johan Heinrich Von beroff had personally decided that his home nation submarine campaign was in his opinion probably illegal and actually doing damage to Germany's reputation and relations with the USA he didn't think Lucitania could be targeted to do so would be an obvious diplomatic misstep of enormous proportions but even so he decided to act a warning was drafted and sent from the German Embassy in Washington to the major newspapers in New York and so it was on May 1st 1915 as Lucitania boilers simed away quietly and steam was gradually got up for the impending departure that the New York Times ran that warning on page 19 sandwiched in between the notices for the anchor line and the new Stockbridge Hotel [Music] [Applause] [Music] Saturday morning Lucitania lies alongside the Chelsea Piers all her Calla board and the final cargo being loaded a steady stream of passengers crowd the gangways and sheds passing inspections and Customs Before Their Eyes the sheer Hull of Lucitania rose up like the face of a huge still cliff she must have seemed so vast and so safe the German embassy's warning had not gone totally unheeded there hadd actually been a few cancellations as the more nervous passengers had backed out but those hundreds and hundreds who boarded the Lucitania on May 1st 1915 had either missed the warning entirely or simply assumed that no civilized country would ever attack an unarmed Merchant vessel carrying neutral passengers especially not the Lucitania a ship whose break neck speeds were thought by most to make her virtually impervious to attack by a ubot reporters flooded the dock that morning amidst the flurry of activity because of the newspaper warnings this Voyage in particular had drawn deep public interest and concern reporters even managed to Corner Captain Turner asking him his thoughts on the situation he replied do you think all of these people would be booking passage on board the Lucitania if they thought she could be caught by a German submarine well it's the best joke I've heard in many days this talk of torpedoing he burst into a hearty laugh and added Germany can concentrate her entire fleet of submarines on our track and we would elude them to Turner Lucitania was the ship used to cheating death she had taken the Atlantic headon and won she had sped through the Atlantic dodging OTS for months his ship was the most suited to this important job and he wouldn't have any suggestions to the contrary news cameramen weren't so sure one set up even on top of the Chelsea Piers and began to roll his camera as Lucitania was backed out slowly past down on the docks photographers snapped away for the newspapers and jokingly announced to all within earshot we're going to call this one the Lucitania last Voyage it was to be the liner's 202nd transatlantic trip and tragically the bad photographers joke was going to prove prophetic [Music] [Music] the kinale lighthouse it looks out over the Celtic Sea from its perch above Windswept Green Hills and ragged Cliffs it's a place of particular Beauty and danger in the old days ships were driven onto the rocks in storms but that may in 1915 there was another danger present lurking just below the water's surface standing in the Lee of the great Black and White Tower a man peers out into the distance and sees what he makes out to be a ship not an unfamiliar site from kinale where the great carders make their first landfall after days spent on the Atlantic Lucitania her funnels darkened is just hours away from home and safety her crew and passengers can see canale and the Irish Coast but this is as close as Lucitania will ever get to her home again [Music] Happ [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Oceanliner Designs

Views: 180,366

Keywords: great ocean liners, maritime history, ocean liners, famous oceanliners, ships documentary, history of ships, engineering, history, ships, documentary, origins explained, world history project, animated history, open educational resources, titanic, shipwreck, sinking, boats, ocean, disaster, tragedy

Id: y_Ct1vHj0qk

Length: 55min 3sec (3303 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024