Skip to main content

Exhibition Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I

Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I

<em>Lusitania</em>

“The Lusitania's Murdered Passengers Laid to Rest: Queenstown Mourns while Berlin Rejoices.” Daily Mirror (London), May 12, 1915. Serial and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress (002.01.00)
Enlarge

Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British Cunard Company ocean liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. The ship sank in 18 minutes and at least 1,191 passengers and crew died, including some 128 Americans. The majority of those lost were never recovered, but three days after the sinking, 150 bodies that had been retrieved were buried in mass graves in Queenstown (later Cobh), County Cork, Ireland. The sinking and its aftermath received massive worldwide news coverage. In America, it led to a surge in pro-British and anti-German sentiment.

 Back to top