What made the lusitania sink?

Answer 1

Survivors of the sinking reported that there were two explosions. The German submarine commander reported that he fired only one torpedo. While the war was going on the British claimed the U-Boat had fired two torpedoes, in an effort to make Propaganda points against the Germans, though why two torpedoes should be so much worse than one is hard to explain. The second explosion was most likely caused by cold sea water flooding in through the hole opened by the torpedo, and coming in contact with the red hot boilers in the ship's engine room. This was a larger explosion and probably blew out part of the ship's bottom, helping to account for the rapidity with which she sank.

For more than fifty years after the war the British kept secret the fact that the Lusitania was carrying contraband cargo, munitions of war, which made her a legitimate target for the Germans trying to enforce a blockade of England. Having made so much of a propaganda stink during the war over the brutal Germans deliberately sinking an innocent, inoffensive passenger liner loaded with women and children, the British would have been deeply embarrassed by the revelation that they themselves had exposed the ship and passengers to the risk by using the huge liner to carry more than four million rounds of rifle ammunition and tons of explosive guncotton. These materials almost certainly did not contribute to the second explosion, as it is difficult to get them to detonate unintentionally, but had the public known of this cargo many would have assumed that these dangerous sounding items were probably what caused the second explosion.

The fact is that the German U-Boat captain almost certainly had no knowledge of what cargo was in the holds of the Lusitania. But, like many large British liners, she was built in part through money provided by the government. Thus she was "RMS Lusitania" - a "Royal Mail Ship". More importantly these large liners were subject to agreements between their owners and the British government that in light of the government participation in paying for their construction, the government could take over these ships in the event of war, and use them as troopships, or for some other warlike purpose. The Lusitania and her sister ship Mauritania were accordingly listed as auxiliary cruisers in the naval registry, which again, made her a legitimate military target.

Answer 2

The Lucitania was sunk by a German U-Boat when she was suspected of transporting war supplies under the guise of being a passenger ship.

Answer 3

Titanic, unusually, sunk directly forward by the head.

She listed neither port, nor starboard.

Answer 4

1917 by Germany. TEE HEE.

Answer 5

1917