The Lusitania was carrying war materiel, but it certainly had no capability to take offensive action against submarines. It was an ocean liner. The only way it could attack anything would be by ramming.
The more I learn of history ,the more I see that evil men bent on control lead America into wars that were unjust or none of our business.
The South didn't invade the North,it was the other way,and the disagreements could have been better solved without the deaths of 600,000 and the wanton,vicious destruction of Southern cities.
The Spanish-American War need never have happened.
And The U.S. need not have gotten involved in the 1914 War of the Empires.
Nor should the U.S. have gone into Bosnia,Libya, or even Iraq at the times and for the reasons stated.
Politicians routinely lie,some lie more than others.
Presidents are politicians.
International law prior to the war required submarines to surface and offer unarmed ships the opportunity to surrender rather than just sinking them without warning. Churchill publicly ordered all British ships to ram any German submarine on the surface demanding surrender.
Note entirely correct.
Lusitaina was configured with mounts for 12 6” guns.
U-Boats of the time were surface vessels with the limited ability to submerge. Most merchant sinkings were by the deck-gun as it was more dependable than the torps of the time...
“...The only way it could attack anything would be by ramming.”
Which it was ordered to do by Churchill. http://smoter.com/america’.htm