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Post by Administrator on May 2, 2019 19:10:45 GMT
The sinking of Lusitania was one of the most horrific incidents at sea during the First World War (1914-18). In early 1915 the German Government declared that all Allied ships would be in danger of attack in British waters. Lusitania sailed from New York on 1 May 1915 with 1962 people on board. On 7 May 1915 at 2.10pm, the liner was near Kinsale in southern Ireland when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20. She sank in under twenty minutes with the loss of 1191 lives. LINK |
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Post by Administrator on May 7, 2019 0:06:08 GMT
ON THIS DAY.On 7th May 1915 the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo. LINK
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Post by KG on May 7, 2019 3:55:28 GMT
As the ship neared Britain it received a few general warnings about German submarines operating nearby. Then, at 2:10 p.m. on the 7th, only 11 miles off the coast of Ireland, the ship was struck by a torpedo fired by a German submarine, U-20. The torpedo hit amidships on the starboard side and was quickly followed by a secondary explosion. Though there were enough lifeboats and lifejackets for everyone, the ship sank far too rapidly (in just 18 minutes) for most people to make use of them. Everyone else was trapped in the ship or forced to fend for themselves in the frigid water. Rescue boats took about 2 hours to reach the survivors, and only about 760 people were saved—a little over a third of the number of those originally on board. LINK |
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