The sinking of a passenger vessel, a deciding factor for the US entering WWI was actually a legitimate military target!

The sinking of a passenger vessel, a deciding factor for the US entering WWI was actually a legitimate military target!

The RMS Lusitania was a British passenger liner that was launched in 1907. For a brief period, it was the largest ship in the world. It featured cutting edge technology at the time and luxurious passenger accommodations.

On May 7, 1915, she was torpedoed by a German U-boat. She sank and took 1,198 lives with her. At the time, submarine warfare was intensifying in the north Atlantic, and the Germans had declared the waters around Great Britain a "war zone." They believed that the Lusitania was carrying war munitions.

However, firing on a passenger vessel broke the Cruiser Rules, a set of international laws, and Americans were outraged.

This attack was influential in America's decision to declare war and join World War I even though they did so two years later in 1917.

While the Lusitania was not carrying war munitions, she was indeed carrying ammunition (shells and cartridges). This information was not made known to the British public at the time of the sinking.

(Source)

3d wooden brain teasers for you to try via OMG Facts http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/omg-facts/WpAq/~3/Mt47UurXg4I/59178

3d wooden brain teasers for you to try from Net Sauce http://netsauce.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-sinking-of-passenger-vessel.html