It was often said in Berlin that the greatest loss when a submarine failed to return was the crew. It required more time to train the men than to build the submarine. According to Germany's new method of construction, a submarine can be built in fifteen days. Parts are stamped out in the factories and assembled at the wharves. But it takes from sixty to ninety days to educate the men and get them accustomed to the seasick motion of the U-boats. Besides, it requires experienced officers to train the new men. To meet this demand Germany began months ago to train men who could man the newest submarines. So a school was established--a School of Submarine Murder--and for many months the man who torpedoed the _Lusitania_ was made chief of the staff of educators. It was a new task for German kultur. For the German people the lessons of the _Lusitania_ have been exactly opposite those normal people would learn. The horror of non-combatants going down on a passenger liner, sunk without warning, was nothing to be compared to the heroism of aiming the torpedo and running away. Sixty-eight million Germans think their submarine officers and crews are the greatest of the great. When the Berlin Foreign Office announced, after the sinking of the _Sussex_, that the ruthless torpedoing of ships would be stopped the German statesmen meant this method would be discontinued until there were sufficient submarines to defy the United States. At once the German navy, which has always been anti-American, began building submarines night and day. Every one in the Government knew the time would come when Germany would have to break its _Sussex_ pledge. The German navy early realised the need for trained men, so it recalled, temporarily, for educational work the man who sank the _Lusitania_. "But, who sank the _Lusitania_?" you ask. "The torpedo which sank the _Lusitania_ and killed over one hundred Americans and hundreds of other noncombatants was fired by Oberleutnant zur See (First Naval Lieutenant) Otto Steinbrink, commander of one of the largest German submarines." "Was he punished?" you ask. "Kaiser Wilhelm decorated him with the highest military order, the Pour le Merite!" "Where is Steinbrink now?" "On December 8, 1916, the German Admiralty announced that he had just returned from a special trip, having torpedoed and mined twenty-two ships on one voyage." "What had he been doing?" "For several months last summer he trained officers and crews in this branch of warfare, which gained him international notoriety."