GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT.
[By The Associated Press.]
BERLIN, May 14, (via Amsterdam to London, May 15.)—From the report received from the submarine which sank the Cunard Line steamer Lusitania last Friday the following official version of the incident is published by the Admiralty Staff over the signature of Admiral Behncke:
The submarine sighted the steamer, which showed no flag, May 7 at 2:20 o'clock, Central European time, afternoon, on the southeast coast of Ireland, in fine, clear weather.
At 3:10 o'clock one torpedo was fired at the Lusitania, which hit her starboard side below the Captain's bridge. The detonation of the torpedo was followed immediately by a further explosion of extremely strong effect. The ship quickly listed to starboard and began to sink.
The second explosion must be traced back to the ignition of quantities of ammunition inside the ship.
It appears from this report that the submarine sighted the Lusitania at 1:20 o'clock, London time, and fired the torpedo at 2:10 o'clock, London time. The Lusitania, according to all reports, was traveling at the rate of eighteen knots an hour. As fifty minutes elapsed between the sighting and the torpedoing, the Lusitania when first seen from the submarine must have been distant nearly fifteen knots, or about seventeen land miles. The Lusitania must have been recognized at the first appearance of the tops of her funnels above the horizon. To the Captain on the bridge of the Lusitania the submarine would have been at that time invisible, being below the horizon.
Map Showing Locations of Ships Attacked in Submarine War Zone with American Citizens Aboard.