- Date:
- 1916
- Original Format:
- Photographic Print
- Item#:
- 1910.0092
A German U-boat Torpedoes a Steamer
In these photographs taken around 1916, an Allied steamer is sunk by U-boat torpedoes. The first major incident involving a ship carrying American citizens occurred on May 17, 1915 with the sinking of the British ocean liner "Lusitania." Though the Germans agreed to halt submarine warfare after this incident, they resumed the practice in early 1917. It was the terrifying, unbridled attacks of the German U-boats or submarines that finally brought America into World War I.