Walther Schwieger

Walther Schwieger was a German U-boat commander during the First World War. In 1915 he commanded U-20 when it torpedoed the British liner RMS Lusitania off the coast of Ireland.

The sinking killed nearly 1,200 people and intensified international hostility toward Germany’s submarine campaign. Schwieger continued in command until he was killed when his submarine struck a mine in 1917.

In Erik Larson’s Dead Wake, at sea, Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger and U-20 search for targets along the Irish coast as British naval intelligence tracks German submarine movements without giving the liner a clear warning of the danger ahead. On 7 May, U-20 torpedoes Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale, and the ship sinks with catastrophic loss of life.