Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse and the Lusitania-- Part 2

When the German captain sent a torpedo into the unsuspecting ship, it sank and over eleven hundred people lost their lives.  This tragedy helped galvanize American opinion to enter the war against Germany.

The principal keeper of the lighthouse reported the sinking of the Lusitania to the admiral in charge at Queenstown (Cobh), who mobilized rescue boats to save as many as possible.

Today, you can see in casement square of Cobh a memorial to the Lusitania's victims, many of whom are buried at the old church cemetery in Kinsale.

The liner lies in the sea about twelve miles south of the lighthouse in 320 feet of water.

Irish Lighthouse in World War I-- Part 1: Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse and the Lusitania

From  Lighthouses of Ireland by Kevin M. McCarthy.

I have been writing about the lighthouses of Ireland and their role in World War II in my Tattooed On Your Soul World War II bloh.

The captain of the Lusitania maneuvered his Cunard liner close to Ireland's Old Head of Kinsale peninsula in order to take his bearings, although being that close to the Irish coast was not safe in May of 1915.

On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania, on her way from the United States to England, sailed nearer to the Irish coast than was safe, but the captain was determined to find out exactly where where he was by taking a bearing on the Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse.

When the officers sighted the three-mile-long peninsula and reassuring lighthouse, they knew that the port of Quenstown (now Cobh) was only thirty miles away.  They felt much safer, but lurking beneath the water was a German U-boat.

--Cooter

The Sinking of the RMS Lusitania 100 Years Ago Today

The sinking of the Lusitania, and deaths of 123 American aboard it went a long way toward the United States siding with the Allies and entering World War I.  The arrival of the Americans helped turned the tide against the Germans.

--Cooter

World War I: U-139 and Captain Walther Schweiger

Back in November, while at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, I saw they had the weather flag from the German World War I submarine U-139 and a picture of the Lusitania sinking after being hit by a torpedo from Captain Schweiger's U-20. I wrote a follow up about the ship and the man in my RoadDog's RoadLog Blog of this date. //// --Cooter

Ten Things You Might Not Know About World War I-- Part 3

7.  Submarines made their first major impact on this war.  German U-Boats operated mostly on the surface, but submerged to attack.  Germany's open submarine warfare was a major factor in the U.S. joining the war on the Allied side, especially after the RMS Lusitania was sunk.

8.  France, not Germany, was the first country to use tear gas against enemy troops.  In August 1914they fired the first gas grenade (xylyl bromide) against German troops

In January 1915, Germans used tear gas against Russian troops, but the gas turned to liquid in the cold air.  In April 1915, Germans fired off the first poisonous chlorine gas.

Two More to Come.  --Cooter