PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE XII: Walther Schwieger
Walther Schwieger was born in Berlin on April 7, 1885. Not quite eighteen, he joined the Imperial German Navy as a Seekadett on April 1, 1903. One year later, Schwieger was promoted to Leutnant zur See. In November 1908, he was named Oberleutnant zur See and began serving on U-boats from 1911 onwards…
In 1912, Schwieger took over the command of the U-14. After the outbreak of World War I, he was promoted to Kapitänleutnant and given command of the U-20.
Schwieger was responsible (and best remembered) for U-20’s sinking of the passenger liner RMS Lusitania, which led to the deaths of 1,198 people… an event that played a role in the United States’ later entry into the Great War.
After the Battle of the Dogger Bank in early 1915, tensions quickly rose between the Germans and the British with regard to neutral ships on the high seas. On January 25th, Germany declared that henceforth… all grain and flour would be contraband of war and subjected to seizure. Upon hearing this announcement, the British promptly seized the American freighter Wilhelmina docked at Falmouth… because it was discovered that a cargo of food was bound for Imperial Germany. It was the beginning of the decline of the German masses to a near-starvation diet… a miscarriage of Germany’s own undertaking and one of the more hideous aspects of the war!
On February 18, 1915, the Germans declared war on ALL goods to Britain. Any vessel found in the combat zone around the British Isles would be destroyed with little or no warning (better known as the “sink on site” campaign).
British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith responded ten days later with a counterblockade against Germany. No neutral vessel would be allowed free access to a German port… or even to return from it. Such policy remained enforced well after the end of the war!
The “double blockade” had lasting consequences that nearly drew the New World into the conflict…
In late April 1915, the popular Cunard liner RMS Lusitania prepared to sail from New York. The German government issued a warning that such British ships might be sunk en route to Europe.
At noon on May 7, 1915, the vessel was off the Old Head of Kinsale on a straight run to Liverpool. Normally, ships took precaution by zigzagging to their destination to confuse subs tracking the wake. It was here that the U-20 led by Commander Walther Schwieger let go two torpedoes at the liner!
The Lusitania went down in eighteen minutes after the initial strike. Nearly 1,200 lives were lost… and of that total, 128 were American! It caused anger and hatred in the U.S., and sentiment for neutrality and peace at any price quickly diminished.
Germany offered apologies and even compensation to placate the United States, which did very little. Even Colonel Edward M. House (the personal emissary to President Woodrow Wilson) predicted that America would be at war in a month. However, the President himself believed in the notion of a man being too proud to fight… a view that did not resonate well with his fellow countrymen.
Despite mixed feelings within the German government, the “sink on site” campaign was called off. It was later known as the Sussex Pledge. This pledge was more of a respite, and its cancellation in early 1917 paved the way for U.S. entry into World War I.
Walther Schwieger would go on to torpedo the SS Hesperian on September 4, 1915 and the SS Cymric on May 8, 1916. On May 31, 1917, his U-boat U-88 sank the Miyazaki Maru during that ship’s voyage from Yokohama to London, causing the loss of eight lives. In addition to winning the Iron Cross and the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Schwieger was decorated with the Order Pour le Merite on July 30, 1917.
Sadly, he would not live to see the end of the war. Walther Schwieger was killed in action on September 5, 1917 at the age of thirty-two. His U-88 hit a British mine and sank north of Terschelling with a loss of all hands.
During his wartime career, Walther Schwieger captained three different submarines over thirty-four missions. He sank forty-nine ships measuring 185,212 gross register tons (GRT), making him the war’s sixth most successful submarine commander.