SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA - SEEK AND DESTROY

THE DESIGN, BUILDING AND LATER SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA - RMS LUSITANIA: SEEK AND DESTROY

A year 2000 documentary on the RMS Lusitania and its sinking by a German U-boat which turned out to be a major turning point in WW1, turning neutral opinion against Germany. This is what Churchill wanted. He left the ship exposed in an area were a German U-boat he and the admiralty knew was operating. He hoped the death of some Americans might pull the United States into the war. He felt like the lives of the civilians on board the ship were a small price to pay.

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and that held the Blue Ribbon appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1908. It was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania three months later.
Source: The History Channel

She was sunk on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May 1915, by a German U-boat 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. The sinking occurred about two years before the United States declaration of war on Germany. Although the Lusitania's sinking was a major factor in building American support for a war, war was eventually declared only after the Imperial German Government resumed the use of unrestricted submarine warfare against American shipping in an attempt to break the Transatlantic supply chain from the US to Britain.