Why did the Germans sink the Lustitania?

Answer 1

Yes, i think the Germans did have the right to torpedo the Lusitania. Only because they thought the Lusitania was carrying arms to help the British. Yet they were right. It is terrible that 128 Americans and lots of british were on this ship, and were killed when they mostly didnt know the arms were even on the boat. the Germans took their chances by doing this, but it was for their country!

Answer 2

Because they were at war with the British and it was carrying military supplies and ammunition to their enemies. The Germans even went as far as to take out ads in American newspapers warning American's not to board the Lusitania as it would be sailing through a war zone and would be subject to attack. All of this was arranged to facilitate America's involvement in the war by those that stood to profit from it. A Google search for Lusitania will open up tons of doors for you.

Answer 3

Militarily the Lusitania was listed as a reserve ship in the British naval registry, meaning that it could could be pressed into service for the royal navy (some reports state that she was already carrying munitions for Britain). In fact she was designed to be converted into an auxiliary cruiser if the need arose. Therefore it was a sound tactical decision to sink the ship. Furthermore, Germany had declared unrestricted submarine warfare making all British ships targets for sinking, under these conditions, having Lusitania on the naval reserve registry was placing the ship at risk.

However, the sinking of the ship became a major Propaganda victor for the entente as it raise millions of dollars, helped recruit thousands of soldiers and contributed to the US joining the war. In this respect it was a resounding strategic mistake.

Moral there is no question, sinking a passenger ship with so much loss of life was wrong. However that may not have been the uboat captains intent. The Lusitania was not expected to sink from one torpedo hit. The speed at which she sunk came as a shock as well, no one even expect her to go down, particularily not at the rate that she did.

Overall it was a wrong, but the decision to torpedo her can be defended.

Answer 4

In short, Germany thought it was smuggling weapons and ammo for the Allies and had the passengers as a... way to cover it up. The British denied those claims after it was sunk, but a dive on the Lus. confirmed it was loaded with weapons and ammo.

Answer 5

No. Trigger happy.