The Germans employed submarines in the North Atlantic during World War I, and in April 1915 the German government issued a warning that it would target British civilian ships. The "Lusitania" was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, during a voyage from New York; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 who lost their lives. Newspapers owned by McCay's employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the tragedy, as Hearst was opposed to the U.S. entering the war. His own papers' readers were increasingly pro-war in the aftermath of the "Lusitania". McCay was as well, but was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorials by editor Arthur Brisbane. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began to make the pro-war "Sinking of the Lusitania" in his own time.