Existing comment:
James McBey
The Sussex, 1916
Torpedoed by a German U-boat while crossing the English Channel on March 24, 1916, the French passenger ferry Sussex beached near Boulogne-sur-Mer. Allied soldiers rescued survivors and recovered more than fifty dead from the ship's cavernous bow while spectators, McBey among them, gathered at a safe distance.
Though the United States remained neutral, President Woodrow Wilson condemned the attack as a human rights violation. Germany responded by pledging not to sink ships without first searching for weapons and ensuring the safety of all aboard. Unrestricted submarine warfare resumed in early 1917, however, provoking the US Congress to declare war. |