<P> It was during the closed hearings that the Admiralty tried to lay the blame on Captain Turner , their intended line being that Turner had been negligent . The roots of this view began in the first reports about the sinking from Vice-Admiral Coke commanding the navy at Queenstown . He reported that `` ship was especially warned that submarines were active on south coast and to keep mid-channel course avoiding headlands also position of submarine off Cape Clear at 10 : 00 was communicated by W / T to her '' . Captain Webb , Director of the Trade Division , began to prepare a dossier of signals sent to Lusitania which Turner may have failed to observe . First Sea Lord Fisher noted on one document submitted by Webb for review : `` As the Cunard company would not have employed an incompetent man its a certainty that Captain Turner is not a fool but a knave . I hope that Turner will be arrested immediately after the enquiry whatever the verdict '' . First Lord Winston Churchill noted : `` I consider the Admiralty 's case against Turner should be pressed by a skilful counsel and that Captain Webb should attend as a witness , if not employed as an assessor . We will pursue the captain without check '' . In the event , both Churchill and Fisher were replaced in their positions before the enquiry because of the failures of the Gallipoli campaign . </P>
who was the first lord of the admiralty at the time of the lusitania 's sinking
Winston Churchill