RMS Lusitania: Admiralty Gun Mounts, 4.2 Million Rounds and a Boiler Blast

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

The Lusitania was built to win a shipping war. German lines such as Norddeutscher Lloyd had held the Blue Riband for ten years, and J. P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine had bought the White Star Line. Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde secured a 2.6 million pound government loan at 2.75 percent interest, on condition that the Lusitania and Mauretania meet Admiralty specifications, including hidden mounts for deck guns. Charles Parsons' steam turbines, rated at 76,000 horsepower against a previous high of about 41,000, gave her 26 knots, but the vibration was so bad that the second-class quarters at the stern had to be rebuilt with stiffening pillars. Third class gained private two to eight berth cabins.

When war came, cruiser rules collapsed amid British Q-ships, ramming orders and Germany's February 1915 war zone declaration. On May 1, 1915, the German embassy under Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff printed warnings next to Cunard's advertisement in 50 newspapers. The cargo held about 173 tons of war supplies, including roughly 4.2 million rifle rounds. On May 7, 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Walther Schwieger's U-20 fired one torpedo. A second explosion followed, and the ship sank in 18 minutes, killing 1,199 people, including 128 Americans, Elbert Hubbard, Charles Frohman and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. The battered wreck now belongs to a heritage museum in Kinsale.

• In January 1910 a rogue wave of about 75 feet pushed back the bridge and permanently depressed the steel deck.
• A 2012 analysis by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory points to a boiler explosion, not hidden explosives, as the second blast.
• Longitudinal coal bunkers trapped water on the starboard side and gave the ship a 15-degree list.
• Only six lifeboats were launched successfully.
• In the 1930s Simon Lake built a 200-foot steel tube meant to let divers walk down to the wreck, but the Depression ended the plan.