Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat with 173 Tons of Munitions Aboard: 1,200 Dead, Morgan Profiteering Exposed

A German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania about 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, sinking the ship in just 18 minutes and killing approximately 1,200 of nearly 2,000 passengers and crew, including 128 Americans. The Germans had circulated warnings that the ship would be sunk and felt justified attacking a vessel furthering their enemy’s war aims, as the Lusitania was carrying a cargo of rifle ammunition and shells totaling approximately 173 tons. The British government initially denied the existence of munitions aboard, but the presence of contraband war materials was later confirmed. Many have speculated about the ship’s rapid sinking and the second explosion that occurred after the initial torpedo strike—some believe the ammunition cargo exploded, hastening the Lusitania’s demise, while others point to damage to the steam room and pipes. The British Admiralty’s decision to route a civilian passenger liner carrying munitions through waters where German U-boats were actively hunting raised questions about whether the ship was deliberately put at risk.

The Lusitania sinking must be understood in the context of JP Morgan’s war profiteering operations. By the end of 1915, exports of American-made munitions to Great Britain had totaled $199,627,324, with monthly averages of $74,003,583—figures proudly announced in the New York Times business pages in September 1916. JP Morgan served as sole purchasing agent at 1 percent commission for these massive munitions exports to Britain. The Lusitania was part of this munitions supply chain, carrying American-manufactured war materials purchased through Morgan’s brokerage to sustain the Allied war effort. The ship’s sinking exposed the dangerous entanglement of American commercial interests with British military operations, demonstrating how private banking profits were creating the conditions for U.S. involvement in the European conflict.

Despite outrage over the incident and the deaths of 128 Americans, the U.S. government continued to pursue a policy of neutrality for another two years. However, German submarine warfare, particularly the Lusitania incident, was prominently cited when the United States declared war in 1917. The sinking served as powerful propaganda for interventionists and was used to manufacture consent for American entry into World War I, even though the ship was indeed carrying munitions in violation of its status as a civilian passenger vessel. The episode established a pattern that would recur throughout the 20th century: corporate profiteering creates dangerous international entanglements, those entanglements produce crises or atrocities, the atrocities are used as propaganda to justify military intervention that protects corporate interests, and the underlying corporate profiteering is obscured by nationalist rhetoric about honor and security. The Lusitania joined the Maine (Spanish-American War) and would be followed by the Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam War) and Iraqi WMDs (Iraq War) in the pantheon of controversial incidents used to justify wars that served corporate interests.