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An examination of the British ocean liner torpedoed during World War I and possible reasons for why she sank so quickly.
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00:01On May 1st, 1915, the Lusitania left New York for her week-long crossing to Liverpool, England.
00:10Friends waved goodbyes on what they thought would be a routine voyage.
00:15But it wasn't.
00:18The journey ended in the tragic death of more than 1,000 Americans.
00:24Was the sinking of the Lusitania an unprovoked act of war?
00:30Why did the unsinkable ship go down so quickly?
00:38Public opinion ran high as the blame was laid squarely on Germany.
00:45But was the German Navy solely responsible?
01:00High society gathered at New York's dockside to bid farewell to the Lusitania.
01:10Passengers paid little regard to company leaflets, warning them of German U-boats in the Atlantic.
01:15Crowds waved goodbye to 1,959 people.
01:28Among the passengers was the millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt.
01:40The Lusitania was the largest, the fastest, and the most luxurious ship of her time.
01:46With a top speed of nearly 26 knots, she had recaptured the blue ribbon from her German rivals.
01:54Now, ostensibly to save fuel, one of her four turbines had been shut down.
01:59It caused a reduction of speed that would put her at a fatal disadvantage if she was forced to out-sail a hostile German ship.
02:09It did not seem to matter.
02:13The United States was neutral.
02:16It was unthinkable for the Lusitania to be attacked.
02:22Passengers relaxed in the splendor of the lavishly furnished staterooms.
02:26The weather on the journey across was splendid.
02:37German U-boats had a limited range, and for the first six days, no danger threatened.
02:46As her route took her around the coast of Southern Ireland, however, the Lusitania entered the war zone.
02:52Normally, the Royal Navy escorted any ship carrying cargo.
02:58Even cargo of mules earlier had warranted three destroyers and an armed cruiser.
03:04Yet the Lusitania, with its VIP passengers, was sailing the course alone.
03:15There had been warnings.
03:16An advertisement of the Lusitania's sailing times was accompanied by a notice from the German embassy
03:23advising passengers that they traveled at their own risk.
03:29German U-boats freely roamed the high seas and scored some spectacular successes.
03:34Moreover, a single German U-boat was known to be active in the war zone, which was part of the Lusitania's path.
03:50It was commanded by a Captain Schreiger, who had once attacked a hospital ship without warning.
03:56During the 30 hours before the Lusitania's arrival, he had sunk three vessels off the Irish coast, two of them substantial merchant ships.
04:09To sink them, he had to use up all but one of his torpedoes.
04:12As he awaited the Lusitania, he surfaced to regenerate his batteries, and his crew relaxed in the warm spring sunshine.
04:27He had no real hope of sinking the Great Liner, but equally, he was in no great danger.
04:40No armed ships from the British Navy were around to harass him.
04:45Off the old head of Kinsale, he again submerged, wading beneath the calm waters.
04:51An hour later, the Lusitania was sighted.
04:59The fateful meeting was about to take place.
05:02The Lusitania was sighted.
05:21For survivor Mrs. Avis Foley, a 12-year-old girl who had been traveling alone to school in England, disaster struck with unexpected suddenness.
05:40We were enjoying a delicious lunch, which was simply marvellous.
05:46The meals were all marvellous on the boat, when suddenly the whole boat was shaken by a tremendous blow.
05:56Some people say there were two torpedoes, but my recollection is that there was only one.
06:01Well, I must have been at the wheel almost half an hour, and I heard the lookout on my shelf.
06:10This is torpedo coming on the starboard bow, sir.
06:13Well, it no sooner said starboard bow, sir, than that was it.
06:18And it must have been, it must have hit her very close behind the bridge, because we couldn't see one another for quite a while, for coal dust of one thing and another.
06:33And everybody thought she was going straight over.
06:36And the water started to come over the starboard wing of the bridge, and the captain said, save himself.
06:40She was listening over to the starboard side pretty steeply, and I was going to get in this boat here, like, or standing by it, when the fellow got excited, and he was lowering his side down,
06:57and the other fellow either couldn't release the ropes, like, tangled, and I saw all the people emptied into the water.
07:06This fellow got panicky and lowered down, and they emptied the people into the water.
07:12That was the next boat, the one I got in, number 13.
07:17The Lusitania was thought to be unsinkable.
07:20She went down, however, with appalling swiftness.
07:2418 minutes in some accounts, 21 minutes in others.
07:31For many families, there was not time to find relatives.
07:36I don't know how long I was in the water on the wreckage, but when I came to, there was a crowd around me, and they were pumping water from me.
07:49And next thing, they gave me a cup of tea and put a blanket around me.
07:54When I went along this dock road, they were making martyries in each shop, with white sheets on, and bodies lying on the shop floors.
08:07Then, from there, I went around, thinking I could see my father, and into London Road, where I lived.
08:15When I got home, it seems my mother was down at Lamsdeep with a baby.
08:21The shock of the tragedy was felt on both sides of the Atlantic.
08:351,201 men, women, and children died.
08:39For several days, crowds lingered at the railway station in Liverpool, where survivors were brought, hoping against all odds that a familiar face would be among them.
08:50Most were disappointed.
08:59In Ireland, mass graves were dug for victims whose bodies had been washed ashore and could not be identified.
09:09The inquest accused the Germans of committing willful murder.
09:13No awkward questions were asked about why the Lusitania had sunk so quickly, or why only 700 people had been saved.
09:27The English newspapers concentrated the blame entirely upon the Germans.
09:32Public opinion in Britain and the United States fueled reasons for involvement in World War I.
09:37Headlines proclaimed the Germans abandoned their right to be called civilized.
09:48Violent mobs demonstrated against the Germans, and broke up shops owned by German nationals.
09:58Gradually, questions began to appear.
10:01Why was the Lusitania left apparently unescorted through dangerous waters?
10:07Why did she sink so quickly?
10:12After the sinking of the Lusitania, local boats worked nonstop, bringing survivors and bodies to Queenstown,
10:20where high street shops were turned into improvised mortuaries.
10:24The dockyard has been long deserted by the British Navy.
10:27The old courthouse, where the coroner condemned the Germans, still stands.
10:38Close by is a monument to the victims of the German attack.
10:43But the greatest reminder of all, the Lusitania, lies south of Queenstown, 315 feet down.
10:51After she was sunk, further questions were asked.
10:56Why was there no escort?
10:58How could such an enormous vessel as the Lusitania be sunk by a single torpedo?
11:03Later in the war, a sister ship was struck by no less than 12 torpedoes,
11:08and still managed to sail to port.
11:10For nearly 50 years, the mystery of why the Lusitania sank so quickly lay hidden on the seabed.
11:20Then, a team of divers, led by the American John Light, penetrated the murky waters.
11:27They brought back photographic evidence of what happened.
11:31In 1960, I first came here to dive on the Lusitania.
11:36Between 1960 and 1962, I made 37 dives to her personally.
11:42And with the divers that were with me, we made 109 dives altogether.
11:46The divers found the vessel split in half.
12:04John Light made a further discovery, which reveals much about the secret cargo aboard the Lusitania.
12:10She does have, however, another split, which is caused by an internal explosion
12:17that starts on this side of the ship, just underneath the bridge,
12:22and goes down on an angle forward.
12:26And as it goes down, it opens out.
12:30And the bottom of the ship is pretty well blasted away.
12:32Now, we can conclude from this that this is an extension of the explosion that occurred
12:39by the torpedo hitting the other side of the ship.
12:42The bow itself is twisted, and it's twisted nearly off.
12:46But your plates are buckled outwards.
12:50And there can be no doubt that an internal explosion is what caused her to sink.
12:58What could have caused such a gigantic explosion?
13:01The reason why the Lusitania sunk when she was hit by one torpedo
13:08is no longer a mystery.
13:13The Lusitania was being used to carry contraband from North America to England.
13:21There is no doubt from the ship's manifest that it was a cargo of explosive.
13:25She was loaded with shells, with shell fuses,
13:28with a type of gun cotton called pyroloxene,
13:31and it was all hidden up in the forward holes.
13:35Before she was allowed to leave New York,
13:37under American neutrality laws,
13:39she had to submit a manifest.
13:41That's a list of what she was carrying to the harbor authorities.
13:43She submitted a forgery,
13:46and the American authorities, full knowing it was a forgery, accepted it.
13:51But a true war manifest was also made,
13:53and it was locked away.
13:56When the torpedo hit,
13:57it hit the exact hole, it's called the Orlop hole,
14:00where the gun cotton was stowed.
14:02And the torpedo just made a lot of noise,
14:05and the gun cotton blew her bottom out.
14:08She sank in 21 minutes.
14:11U.S. knowledge of the explosives on board
14:14is revealed by a confidential White House memorandum.
14:17President Wilson asked Deputy Secretary Robert Lansing,
14:22were any contraband munitions aboard the Lusitania when torpedoed.
14:27Lansing replied,
14:28practically all her cargo was contraband of some kind.
14:33The British Admiralty ordered authorities in Ireland,
14:37ensure that bodies selected for inquest
14:39have not been killed or mutilated
14:41by means which we do not wish made public.
14:47So there was a monumental Anglo-American cover-up.
14:51It was at the highest level,
14:53involving Winston Churchill on the English side,
14:57and Franklin D. Roosevelt,
14:59then Secretary of State for the Navy on the American side.
15:01There's little doubt,
15:03the American Secretary of State and his deputy
15:05both knew the true story.
15:08The cover-up had to survive two separate inquiries.
15:12One in New York.
15:14Both judges were ordered to suppress certain evidence
15:18and keep secret certain papers.
15:21The suppressed documents reveal that Captain William Turner,
15:24master of the Lusitania,
15:26was to be made the scapegoat.
15:28From the British Admiralty came the message,
15:31I am directed to inform you
15:34that it is considered politically expedient
15:36that Captain Turner be most prominently blamed
15:40for the disaster.
15:43Winston Churchill,
15:45first Lord of the Admiralty, agreed.
15:47He said,
15:48I consider the Admiralty case against the Captain
15:51should be pressed by a skillful counsel.
15:54From Lord Fisher,
15:56Captain Turner of the Lusitania
15:58is a scoundrel and has been bribed.
16:02The master of the Lusitania
16:03acted directly contrary
16:05to the written general instructions
16:07received from Queenstown
16:08during the hours immediately preceding the attack.
16:12On the facts at present disclosed,
16:15the master appears to have displayed
16:16an almost inconceivable negligence
16:19and one is forced to conclude
16:21that he is either utterly incompetent
16:23or has been got at by the Germans.
16:25Sir Edward Gray,
16:29Foreign Secretary,
16:30underlined the official approach.
16:32He said,
16:34Captain Turner was fully informed
16:36of the presence of hostile submarines
16:38in the vicinity of the place
16:39in which he was torpedoed.
16:41The inquiry was told
16:42the captain recklessly took
16:44the unarmed Lusitania
16:45into a danger area.
16:47Lusitania was deliberately sent
16:54into a hazardous area
16:57where there was a German U-boat
16:59without escorts
17:00and with a dangerous cargo
17:02and the tragedy
17:03could have been avoided.
17:05The Lusitania
17:06was designed
17:07as an armed cruiser.
17:09The archives
17:10of the National Maritime Museum
17:12clearly hold the drawings
17:13showing that she was designed
17:14to carry 12 six-inch guns.
17:16The guns were actually fitted
17:18on May the 13th, 1913.
17:22Churchill had the thought
17:23of the Lusitania
17:24being attacked by the Germans
17:25very much on his mind.
17:27He commissioned a paper
17:28on the political repercussions
17:30in the event of the Lusitania
17:31being sunk by a German submarine
17:33five weeks before this happened.
17:36That morning,
17:38as the Lusitania
17:38approached the old head of Kinsale,
17:41the King of England
17:42had seen the American ambassador
17:43and said to him,
17:45what will happen
17:45if the Lusitania's sunk?
17:47Now, the Admiralty says
17:48she was clearly warned
17:49and she was told
17:51to steer a certain course.
17:53But in the Admiralty records,
17:55the page of that signal log
17:56is missing.
17:59Off the south coast
17:59of Southern Ireland
18:00is a little signal station
18:01called Valencia
18:02which monitored those signals.
18:05And the pages
18:06of that signal book
18:07are still there.
18:08They clearly show
18:09that the Lusitania
18:10was not told
18:12that the U-20
18:12was waiting for her.
18:14And, worst of all,
18:16the only sensible message
18:18clearly identified her
18:19to anybody listening.
18:22That reads,
18:23to Alfred Vanderbilt
18:24aboard the SS Lusitania, Valencia,
18:27hope you have a safe crossing,
18:29looking forward
18:29to seeing you soon.
18:30At the last minute,
18:32and without telling
18:33anyone on board
18:33the Lusitania,
18:34all those escorts
18:35were drawn.
18:38Either it was
18:38monumental mismanagement
18:40or a calculated risk.
18:43And I've come to the conclusion
18:45it's a calculated risk.
18:48Buried in Queenstown,
18:49far from home,
18:51the victims may therefore
18:52have been casualties
18:53of international diplomacy.
18:56Churchill, it is known,
18:58wished above all
18:58to bring the United States
19:00into the war.
19:02He wrote later,
19:03in spite of all its horror,
19:05we must regard
19:06the sinking of the Lusitania
19:07as an event
19:08most important
19:09and favorable
19:10to the Allies.
19:12At the summit,
19:13true politics
19:14and strategy
19:15are won.
19:17The maneuver
19:17which brings an ally
19:18into the field
19:19is as serviceable
19:21as that which wins
19:22a great battle.
19:23Those who died
19:24in the Lusitania
19:25were perhaps victims
19:27not just of war
19:28but of politics.
19:33Echoes of the Lusitania
19:34began in 1941
19:35with the USS Greer.
19:38An American destroyer,
19:39the Greer was on a mail run
19:41to Iceland.
19:43A British patrol plane
19:44spotted a German submarine
19:46and alerted the USS Greer.
19:48The Greer began to aggressively
19:50track the U-boat.
19:51The Germans,
19:54wishing to avoid detection,
19:56submerged.
20:01For two hours,
20:02the Greer
20:02and the German U-boat
20:04played a game
20:04of cat and mouse.
20:06Because the Greer
20:07was unmarked,
20:08the Germans assumed
20:09they were being pursued
20:10by a British destroyer
20:11and the U-boat
20:12fired a torpedo
20:13at the American ship.
20:17The USS Greer
20:19set off depth charges.
20:21In spite of what
20:29Hitler's propaganda bureau
20:32has invented,
20:34in spite of what
20:35any American
20:36obstructionist organization
20:38may prefer to believe,
20:42I tell you the blunt fact
20:44that the German submarine
20:46fired first upon this
20:48American destroyer, Greer,
20:50without warning
20:52and with deliberate
20:53design to sink on.
20:57Just as the sinking
20:58of the Lusitania
20:59speeded America's entrance
21:01into World War I,
21:03the Greer incident
21:03provided the same
21:04two leaders,
21:05Roosevelt and Churchill,
21:07with reasons for
21:08stepping up America's
21:09hostilities toward Germany
21:11prior to World War II.
21:13Coming up next,
21:2020th Century with Mike Wallace
21:22reports on child abuse
21:23scandals.
21:25Then, Weapons at War
21:26looks at tank busters
21:27from the bazooka
21:28to the Apache helicopter
21:29and handheld rockets.
21:31And log on
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