Germany placed newspaper ads warning Americans not to sail on the Lusitania. Most ignored them. On May 7, 1915, a torpedo hit the ship off Ireland. It sank in 18 minutes, killing 1,197 people — including 128 Americans.
The RMS Lusitania was the world's largest ocean liner when she launched in 1906, capable of crossing the Atlantic in under five days. By 1915, with Europe at war, Cunard continued transatlantic service as usual. Germany had declared the waters around Britain a war zone — and on May 1, 1915, placed newspaper advertisements in American papers warning that Allied ships were liable to be sunk.
The Lusitania departed New York on May 1 with nearly 2,000 passengers and crew, including 128 Americans. Her captain, William Turner, took some precautions — zigzagging, closing watertight doors — but reduced speed to conserve coal and stayed close to the Irish coast in shallow water, against naval guidance.
On May 7, German submarine U-20 spotted the Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale and fired a single torpedo. The torpedo struck. Then a second explosion — far larger — tore through the ship. The exact cause of the second explosion has been debated ever since: the ship was carrying munitions as cargo, though Britain denied it for decades.
The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes. The speed of sinking meant many lifeboats couldn't be launched — the ship listed so severely that boats on one side slammed into the hull, while boats on the other swung too far out to board. Of 1,960 aboard, 1,197 died. Survivors clung to debris in the cold Irish Sea for hours.
The reaction in America was fury. Newspaper front pages called it mass murder. Former President Theodore Roosevelt declared it piracy. The German government argued the ship was carrying weapons to Britain — which was partly true, though the scale was disputed — and that passengers had been warned.
The sinking became a cornerstone of Allied propaganda and is often cited as a turning point in American public opinion toward entering the war, though the US wouldn't declare war for another two years. When the Zimmermann Telegram arrived in 1917 — Germany trying to recruit Mexico against America — the memory of the Lusitania made it easy to tip the balance.