[leo]

American citizens of their own free will decided to sail on a British ship in time of war. The ship was carrying munitions and had accommodations to mount weapons. It was a Royal Mail Ship carrying official correspondence of the British government which would have value to that side. The ship was listed in "Janes 1913" edition as an auxilary cruiser. To sum up, it was a legitimate target of war. It is a terrible thing that Americans lost their lives so unnecessarily. Whats really sad was that there was other transportation available to those American passengers. Sweden and other neutral powers operated ships to Europe as well as Us Liners. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan left the Wilson administration partly over our response to the Lusitania sinking. He felt that Americans should have been notified that in case of action by a German sub against an English ship that the passenger would forfeit the protection of the US government.