In Search of... (TV Series) The Lusitania (1981) User Reviews

Sunken Liner

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 30 September 2014]

Effective historical-based episode deals with the sinking of the British liner the Lusitania, which was sunk by a German torpedo from its submarine in 1915. The ship sank with astonishing swiftness, leading authorities at the time to investigate why. The captain was eventually held responsible, but as historians point out, that may not have been fair, since it is entirely possible that it was carrying contraband arms to Germany's enemies, when it wasn't supposed to have, and that the torpedo detonated those arms, hastening the Lusitania's demise, killing over 1000 people, including 114 Americans, leading to that country's entrance into World War I, which was not considered an undesirable outcome by the British government...

Season 5 Episode 23

[Michael_Elliott · 7 September 2016]

In Search Of... "The Lusitania" (1981)

Here's another very good episode for the series. This one takes a look at the sinking of The Lusitania, which set off all sorts of issues for World War I. We learn about the ship including stuff like how it was built and then we get into the sinking and the possible cover up that was done. Were the victims just a casualty of war or was there some dirty politics being played as well? This is certainly a very fascinating subject as we're given a great story all around. The episode does a very good job at taking a look at the actual sinking as well as what happened next.

Episode: A

The Lusitania

[dtucker86 · 10/10 · 6 September 2023]

Although not as famous as the Titanic, the Lusitania which sank three years later was a horrible disaster as well. Of the 1959 people on the great liner only 764 survived after it was torpedoed and sank in only fifteen minutes. Nimoy points out that a sister ship was hit by a dozen torpedoes and still managed to reach port. Why did the ship go down so quickly? One of the theories is it was carrying munitions that were set off by the torpedo. A Navy diver who explored the wreck in 1960 tells of the massive damage he saw that could not possibly be caused by a single torpedo. In the end we are left with the possibility the ship was sacrificed to get America into the war and those who died were casualties of both war and poltics. There is an eerie picture shown of one of the recovered bodies a small child who is known only by number. That is what stuck most in my mind about this episode..