I've read that a rather high percentage of compressed air-driven torpedoes in World War I were duds in that they failed to explode on impact. Suppose the fish loosed by the U-20 at the Lusitania turned out to be one of those duds?
I'd bet the impact would have been heard throughout the ship, and possibly felt (though I'm not sure how much the hull and the water would have damped the vibrations), leading to a "what was that?" reaction with consensus opinion arriving at the conclusion of a dud torpedo, given the knowledge that U-boats were active in the area. It wouldn't have been confirmed, however, until the Lusitania went into dry dock for maintenance when someone would have seen the dent in the hull--assuming that an unexploded torpedo had enough kinetic energy to make a dent in ship plate.
Assuming that the conclusion was a dud torpedo impact, I'd guess U-boats would have been relatively scarce in those same waters for a while, since the Royal Navy would step up vigilance. Probably, in the US, it might have swung opinion away from the Central Powers, although not necessarily to the Entente (it would have been interesting to see what noted German proponent H. L. Mencken would have said).
Thoughts?
I'd bet the impact would have been heard throughout the ship, and possibly felt (though I'm not sure how much the hull and the water would have damped the vibrations), leading to a "what was that?" reaction with consensus opinion arriving at the conclusion of a dud torpedo, given the knowledge that U-boats were active in the area. It wouldn't have been confirmed, however, until the Lusitania went into dry dock for maintenance when someone would have seen the dent in the hull--assuming that an unexploded torpedo had enough kinetic energy to make a dent in ship plate.
Assuming that the conclusion was a dud torpedo impact, I'd guess U-boats would have been relatively scarce in those same waters for a while, since the Royal Navy would step up vigilance. Probably, in the US, it might have swung opinion away from the Central Powers, although not necessarily to the Entente (it would have been interesting to see what noted German proponent H. L. Mencken would have said).
Thoughts?