Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "Lusitania - How the Disaster Could Have Been Avoided" video.

  1. Not by anyone sane. The U-boat commander himself claimed the sinking.
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  2. What part of the term 'Unrestricted Submarine Warfare' is too complex for you? At the time, every allied ship was deemed a legitimate target.
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  3. 1). At the time, Germany had a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. A number of merchant ships had already been sunk. Lusitania, in German eyes, was also a legitimate target, whatever she was, or was not, carrying. The fact is that no one in Britain or the US really believed that a large passenger liner would be attacked in this manner. 2). Turner reduced speed in order to reach Liverpool when the tide was favourable. 3). Churchill was not 1st Sea Lord, he was First Lord of the Admiralty, which was a political, rather than a military, office. Do you seriously think he spent his days deciding where the Royal Navy's ships would or would not be? 4). The northern channel around Ireland was not out of U-boat range. Moreover, the southern route was shorter. Simply look at a map. 5). No, it wasn't. Certainly, the allies wanted US support, but the best way thew Germans could have avoided that would have been not to have attacked a prestigious target carrying many US citizens. In any case, the US didn't become involved for two more years, and only then because the Germans re-introduced unrestricted submarine warfare, and began sinking neutral US ships. 6). Simply nonsense. Lusitania was a legitimate target, in German terms, in any case. The weapons, actually rifle ammunition, were not illegal. 7). Even more nonsensical than 6). The rest of your post is simply lunacy, and not even worthy of comment. Although I do like your fantasy that Bouncing Bomb research had been completed by 1933. Brilliant!!
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  4. At the time, any allied ship was regarded as a legitimate target under the terms of unrestricted submarine warfare. Lusitania, by the way, was not carrying anything not permitted. Numerous explorations of the wreck have found nothing which was not manifested.
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  5. U boats at the time used either their deck guns or single torpedoes. U 20 only carried six torpedoes.
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  6. What part of the term 'Unrestricted Submarine Warfare' is too complex for you? At the time, every allied ship was deemed a legitimate target.
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  7.  @tylerbuckley2092  'i said England used human shields to ship military cargo' If you intend to ship munitions or supplies across the Atlantic, then liners are totally unsuited to the task. That was why Lusitania was carrying only a small quantity of small arms ammunition. Human shields is a very emotive term. Are you suggesting that the passengers aboard Lusitania were forced to board her? Weren't they free to sail or not sail? The fact is, no-one, Allied, American , or, indeed, most Germans, did not believe that such an attack on one of the great liners would be carried out.
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  8.  @fishfuxors  Yes. He was aboard and in command of U20, the boat which sank Lusitania. His logbook was handed in to the German Admiralty, who even had a special medallion produced to celebrate his achievement.
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  9.  @fishfuxors  I don't say so. Facts, archives, and documents do. My comments are based on contemporary sources.
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  10. What part of the term 'Unrestricted Submarine Warfare' is too complex for you? At the time, every allied ship was deemed a legitimate target.
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  11. Knew what? Their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare meant that any Allied ship was, in their eyes, a legitimate target.
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  12.  @justicar5  As I wrote, every allied ship was in German eyes a legitimate target. She wasn't by the way, 'loaded with munitions' although she did carry a quantity of small arms ammunition. For the transportation of munitions, there were a vast number of more suitable ships than a liner laden with passengers.
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  13.  @justicar5  Were the schooner Earl of Lathom, sunk by U20 on 5 May, or the steamer Candidate, sunk by U20 on 6 May, 'declared warships?' On, and auxiliary cruisers were not convoy escorts. Surely you know that convoys did not exist in 1915? The munitions aboard Lusitania, such as they were, had been declared on her manifest, and the US investigation confirmed them as legitimate cargo.
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  14. Nonsense. In terms of unrestricted submarine warfare, any Allied ship was a legitimate target in any case. Try to put yourself into the mindset of 1915. The reality is that no-one seriously expected any of the warring powers to sink one of the great liners and kill almost 1,200 people, many of whom were from a neutral country.
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  15. No. That didn't happen for two more years.
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  16. Except that the materials aboard Lusitania were not 'illegal.' Ever heard of the German introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare?
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  17. Yes, of course Churchill was responsible. After all, hasn't he been blamed for everything since the Black Death by some folk? No credible case has ever been made against Churchill, in other words.
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  18. Except that two of the US Navy's best battleships, Maryland & West Virginia, where actually in Pearl Harbor when the attack took place. Ther US only had two newer vessels, the North Carolinas, at the time. Your post has no credibility.
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  19. What 'blunders' in the Boer war? He was a war correspondent in his 20s. I enjoy reading the comments of fools whose knowledge of history is minimal, but who are absolutely convinced that Churchill must be blamed for everything since the Black Death. Lusitania was not carrying a 'clandestine' cargo. Nothing has ever been found in the wreck which was not on the manifest handed to the US authorities. Perhaps you aren't aware that Germany had a policy of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare in force at the time, which meant that any allied ship was, in their terms, a legitimate target?
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  20. Liners in WW2 used as troopships, if capable of 25 knots, were operated without escorts.
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  21. I believe you are correct. This was 1915, remember. No one seriously expected anyone to sink one of the great liners of the time.
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  22. Don't be an idiot. Did Churchill use a Ouija Board to order the mining of the site in the 1970s?
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