Summary

For a split second after the torpedo passed from view below the deck and nothing happened at first, there was the thought that it was a misfire. But that thought vanished when 350 pounds of explosives detonated in the hull, ten feet below the waterline, releasing heat of 9,000 degrees F. The solid fuel had been turned to gas and tremendous pressure was building. A geyser of seawater and parts of the ship shot up to twice the height of the ship. The hull had sustained a hole 40 feet wide and 15 feet high below the waterline. Water from the geyser drenched the passengers on the decks. Thousands of rivets well beyond the hole came lose. Portholes and doors were compromised.

The huge hole in the hull coupled with the forward speed of 18 knots caused the Lusitania to take on seawater at 100 tons per...