Why did Germany sink the Lusitania?

Answer 1

Britain for centuries had the most powerful navy in the world. The Germans had been building a navy but did not feel confident enough to risk losing their navy, and the war, in a single naval engagement. England is an island nation and depended, even then, on imports arriving by ship to feed its people, and also in wartime imports included raw materials to make munitions of war, and finished munitions from the US. Since Germany did not feel strong enough to risk a surface navy confrontation, to try to blockade the British this left submarines. The Germans mounted a submarine campaign to try to cut off imports into England, and starve England out of the war. They had declared the waters around Britain to be a war zone, and announced their intention to sink any ships they could within that area. (That this announcement appeared in a New York City newspaper right beside the announcement of the sailing of the Lusitania was later seen as particularly sinister). The Germans warned that anyone sailing into those waters did so at their own risk. So this was why the Germans were sinking ships in general. As for the Lusitania herself, she had been built partially with money from a government subsidy, and thus was subject to being requisitioned by the government for military use in wartime. The Germans had no way of knowing whether this had been done, and the Lusitania was sailing as a troopship or in some other military capacity. She was listed in "Jane's Naval Registry", a book listing all the ships of the world, a copy of which each German sub carried, as an "auxiliary cruiser" of the British Royal Navy. So the German captain felt justified in attacking a ship which was listed as a naval vessel and could easily have been about military tasks. The sub captain was in fact given a medal by the German government for doing so. And, though the British did not admit it for fifty years, the Lusitania was in fact carrying items which were contraband under international law governing blockades. These items included more than four million rounds of rifle ammunition, and tons of explosive guncotton for use in artillery shells, some of which may have produced the second and far more damaging explosion survivors reported, after the single torpedo the Germans fired exploded against the side of the ship.

Answer 2

Britain for centuries had the most powerful navy in the world. The Germans had been building a navy but did not feel confident enough to risk losing their navy, and the war, in a single naval engagement. England is an island nation and depended, even then, on imports arriving by ship to feed its people, and also in wartime imports included raw materials to make munitions of war, and finished munitions from the US. Since Germany did not feel strong enough to risk a surface navy confrontation, to try to blockade the British this left submarines. The Germans mounted a submarine campaign to try to cut off imports into England, and starve England out of the war. They had declared the waters around Britain to be a war zone, and announced their intention to sink any ships they could within that area. (That this announcement appeared in a New York City newspaper right beside the announcement of the sailing of the Lusitania was later seen as particularly sinister). The Germans warned that anyone sailing into those waters did so at their own risk. So this was why the Germans were sinking ships in general. As for the Lusitania herself, she had been built partially with money from a government subsidy, and thus was subject to being requisitioned by the government for military use in wartime. The Germans had no way of knowing whether this had been done, and the Lusitania was sailing as a troopship or in some other military capacity. She was listed in "Jane's Naval Registry", a book listing all the ships of the world, a copy of which each German sub carried, as an "auxiliary cruiser" of the British Royal Navy. So the German captain felt justified in attacking a ship which was listed as a naval vessel and could easily have been about military tasks. The sub captain was in fact given a medal by the German government for doing so. And, though the British did not admit it for fifty years, the Lusitania was in fact carrying items which were contraband under international law governing blockades. These items included more than four million rounds of rifle ammunition, and tons of explosive guncotton for use in artillery shells, some of which may have produced the second and far more damaging explosion survivors reported, after the single torpedo the Germans fired exploded against the side of the ship.