The Ship Everyone Was Warned About | The Sinking of RMS Lusitania

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]On May the 7th, 1915, >> [music] >> a single torpedo changed the course of history.

[00:00:05]The British ocean liner RMS Lusitania >> [music] >> was nearing the coast of Ireland after a transatlantic voyage from New York.

[00:00:13]Nearly 2,000 passengers and [music] crew were on board.

[00:00:16]Many believed they were safe.

[00:00:19]They were wrong.

[00:00:21]At 2:10 in the afternoon, crew members spotted a trail [music] of foam racing across the water.

[00:00:26]A German submarine, SMU-20, had fired a torpedo.

[00:00:31]Seconds later, it slammed into the starboard side of the ship.

[00:00:35]Explosions [music] rocked the liner.

[00:00:37]The Lusitania immediately began listing to one side.

[00:00:41]Passengers rushed onto the decks. Some were thrown off their feet. Others struggled to climb slanted stairways as the ship tilted more and more.

[00:00:49]Crew members tried launching lifeboats, but the severe angle made many impossible to lower safely.

[00:00:55]Several crashed into the sea. Others overturned, spilling passengers into the cold sea below.

[00:01:01]Panic [music] spread. Families became separated.

[00:01:04]People jumped overboard rather than risk going down with the ship.

[00:01:08]The tragedy unfolded with shocking speed.

[00:01:11]Unlike the Titanic, which took nearly 3 hours to sink, the Lusitania disappeared [music] beneath the waves in just 18 minutes.

[00:01:18]By the time rescue vessels arrived, it was already [music] gone.

[00:01:22]Of the nearly 2,000 people aboard, more than half lost their lives.

[00:01:27]The sinking sent shockwaves [music] around the world.

[00:01:30]Germany argued that the ship was a legitimate military target.

[00:01:34]Britain was at war, and before the ship ever left New York, >> [music] >> the German Embassy had placed warnings in American newspapers advising travelers not to sail on British vessels.

[00:01:43]The notices appeared alongside Cunard's advertisements on the very day Lusitania departed.

[00:01:48]Nevertheless, the sinking left people outraged.

[00:01:51]To them, this wasn't a military victory.

[00:01:54]It was the killing of civilians.

[00:01:56]Public opinion, [music] especially in the United States, turned sharply against Germany.

[00:02:01]Although America would not enter World War I [music] for another 2 years, the sinking of the Lusitania became one of the most powerful symbols used [music] to rally support for the Allied cause.

[00:02:12]More than a century later, the wreck still rests on the floor of the Celtic [music] Sea, about 11 mi off the coast of Ireland.

[00:02:20]A rusting grave [music] site and a reminder that sometimes a single attack can change history forever.