# Has the controversy over whether the Lusitania was carrying war matériel finally put to rest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-controversy-over-whether-the-lusitania-was-carrying-war-materiel-finally-put-to-rest/695279 "2014-08-11T01:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-controversy-over-whether-the-lusitania-was-carrying-war-materiel-finally-put-to-rest/695279/1 "2014-08-11T01:11:29Z")
Hi, Has the controversy over whether the Cunard Liner the Lusitania was carrying war matériel been put to rest? I look forward to your feedback. I look forward to your feedback. > **[RMS Lusitania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania)** > > RMS Lusitania (named after the Roman province in Western Europe corresponding to modern Portugal) was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1908. It was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania three months later. She was sunk on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May 1915, by a German U-boat 11 miles (18 km) off the western coast of Ireland, kill... “Lusitania was indeed officially listed as an auxiliary war ship,[40] and her cargo had included an estimated 4,200,000 rounds of rifle cartridges, 1,250 empty shell cases, and 18 cases of non-explosive fuses, which was openly listed as such in her cargo manifest.[59][60] The day after the sinking, the New York Times published full details of the ship’s military cargo.[61] Assistant Manager of the Cunard Line, Herman Winter, denied the charge that she carried munitions, but admitted that she was carrying small-arms ammunition, and that she had been carrying such ammunition for years.[62] The fact that Lusitania had been carrying shells and cartridges was not made known to the British public at the time.[63] In the 27-page additional manifest, delivered to US customs 4–5 days after the Lusitania sailed from New York, and the Bethlehem Steels papers is stated that the “empty shells” were in fact 1248 boxes of filled 3” shell, 4 shells to the box, totalling 103.000 pounds or 50 tonnes." > **[Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1098904/Secret-Lusitania-Arms-challenges-Allied-claims-solely-passenger-ship.html)** > > Divers have revealed a dark secret about the cargo carried by the Lusitania on its final journey in May 1915. “The diving team estimates that around four million rounds of U.S.-manufactured Remington .303 bullets lie in the Lusitania’s hold at a depth of 300ft.” [http://open.salon.com/blog/rick\_spilman/2014/05/02/was\_the\_lusitania\_carrying\_munitions\_in\_1915\_newly\_released\_documents\_raise\_questions](http://open.salon.com/blog/rick_spilman/2014/05/02/was_the_lusitania_carrying_munitions_in_1915_newly_released_documents_raise_questions) "The Irish Times comments: “Small arms cartridges were found by the Co Waterford-based diver Eoin McGarry, on behalf of the Lusitania’s American owner, Gregg Bemis, in September 2008 in a part of the sunken liner where ammunition was never previously known to have been stored for the voyage.” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-controversy-over-whether-the-lusitania-was-carrying-war-materiel-finally-put-to-rest/695279/2 "2014-08-11T02:58:17Z")
Well, that looks conclusive.