jan 7, 1916 - lusitana
Description:
Germany’s submarine fleet intensified its blockade of Britain during 1915. In February Germany announced that the waters around Great Britain, including the English Channel, were in the war zone. In addition, Germany clearly stated that merchant ships found in this zone would be destroyed. This included the ships of neutral nations.
“New York Herald”
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On May 7 a luxury passenger liner, the Lusitania, was torpedoed and sunk off Kinsale Head, Ireland. Among the 1,198 persons drowned were more than 120 U.S. citizens.
Germany continued to build more and better submarines. By April 1917, when the United States entered the war, more than 3 million tons of British shipping had been sunk. This was 16 percent of the 1914 British merchant fleet. By 1915 the British were already beginning to fear that continued shipping losses might force Britain out of the war.
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