Today in Military History: Sinking of the Lusitania, Navy fires a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile

Unto the Breach ^ | May 7, 2018 | Chris Carter

[fugazi]

1873: Marines from the USS Pensacola and USS Tuscarora land at the Bay of Columbia to protect American citizens and interests as local groups fight for control of the Panamanian government.

1915: Just off the coast of southern Ireland, the submarine U-20 spots the massive ocean liner RMS Lusitania, steaming from New York and hoping to sneak through Germany's blockade of the British Isles . The U-boat fires a single torpedo at the ship and Lusitania sinks in just 18 minutes, taking 1,198 people - including 128 Americans - with her to the bottom.

While the British government maintained for years that Lusitania was purely a passenger liner, the secondary explosions which caused the vessel to sink so quickly may have been from the tons of ammunition secretly being transported from an allegedly neutral United States. The sinking of Lusitania will be a major factor in the United States declaring war on Germany two years later.

1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins in earnest between Allied (primarily U.S.) Naval forces and the Japanese Navy.

The battle – the first fought between opposing ships beyond visual range – is largely...

[fugazi]

Also on this date, the U.S. military fires its first and only nuclear-tipped ballistic missile in the FRIGATE BIRD test.

[chajin]

1915: Just off the coast of southern Ireland, the submarine U-20 spots the massive ocean liner RMS Lusitania, steaming from New York and hoping to sneak through Germany's blockade of the British Isles . The U-boat fires a single torpedo at the ship and Lusitania sinks in just 18 minutes, taking 1,198 people - including 128 Americans - with her to the bottom.

This was "preserved" in a 1918 animation which was way ahead of its time in terms of animation techniques; it can be seen here.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The REALLY big thing that happened May 7:

May 7, 1945 2:41 a.m. at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Rheims, France, German general Alfred Jodl signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces – one week after Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin Bunker.

[Snickering Hound]

Shokaku was so damaged at Coral Sea that she almost sank returning to Japan after the battle.

And also missed out on the battle of Midway the next month.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, that is an amazing animation. I'd never heard of Winsor McCay before. There's a film on YT showing his crew producing the 25,000 drawings.

OT, but here's another animation of his: How a Mosquito Operates. You can see the early anthropomorphic humor that Walt Disney used in his videos when you see the mosquito tipping his hat to the audience and doing silly things with his legs.

[T-Bird45]

It appears May 7 was very significant multiple times since it also includes the Vietnamese defeating the French at Dien Bien Phu, causing the French to leave their colony to the natives. Both surrenders, German and French, figured greatly into US history in the final half of the 20th Century.

[fugazi]

We originally supported Vietnamese nationalism following World War II and OSS agents were on hand for Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of independence ceremony (standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Gen. Giap), with U.S. planes performing a flyover.

Our involvement in Vietnam was basically diplomatic blackmail by the French. They wanted to keep French Indochina as a colony, and let us know that it would be a shame if they couldn’t join us in confronting the Soviet Union because they were spending money and losing lives fighting to keep up their colonial rule of Southeast Asia.

In hindsight, I don’t know that France was much use to the West during the Cold War, and Vietnam was very pro-U.S. and independent of both China (whom they despised) and the Kremlin.

[fella]

V-E Day My uncle are heading Japan next.

My other uncles are on Okinawa.

And Dad is being recalled from watching the Nazis in Bolivia.

[alternatives?]

I read the other day that the US government stopped newspaper ads purchased by the German government warning US citizens not to travel on the Lusitania. I think only an Iowa paper published the warning. Of course it was against the law for the US to be sending munitions to the British.

Without the US entry into WWI, the war likely would have ended in stalemate. Without harsh surrender terms likely no WWII.

This is what happens when the US government lies and violates the rule of law.

[shanover]

Without the US entry into WWI, the war likely would have ended in stalemate. Without harsh surrender terms likely no WWII.

It seems that American entry into WWI ultimately shaped the world we have today. Foreign entanglements have their consequences.

[Glad2bnuts]

1945: At 2:41 a.m. at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Rheims, France, German general Alfred Jodl signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces – one week after Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin Bunker.

Except Hitler did not commit suicide, that has been proven along with contemporary accounts that US and Russians knew it was a lie.

[T-Bird45]

“In hindsight, I don’t know that France was much use to the West during the Cold War, and Vietnam was very pro-U.S. and independent of both China (whom they despised) and the Kremlin.”

Agreed that France was a very reluctant ally in the Cold War, basically a sponge in that our troops stood between them and the Soviets without them really having to do much.

As to the second half of your comment, obviously Vietnamese national interests shifted as the Soviets saw them as the ideal client state to engage and weaken the US. Ho Chi Minh had a long history with the Soviets and easily fell to their sweet words about anti-colonialist struggles being the natural strength of communism.

[T-Bird45]

“It seems that American entry into WWI ultimately shaped the world we have today.”

Perhaps the best college course I took in the mid-70s was one about US Diplomatic History in the 20th Century. The professor was definitely a patriot, back when such things were allowed on a college campus. He took a deep dive into every diplomatic thrust and parry that drove the historical narrative we understood to that point. I’d say that course is the underpinning of a large part of my worldview today and aligns to your final sentence on foreign entanglements.

[fugazi]

“As to the second half of your comment, obviously Vietnamese national interests shifted as the Soviets saw them as the ideal client state to engage and weaken the US. Ho Chi Minh had a long history with the Soviets and easily fell to their sweet words about anti-colonialist struggles being the natural strength of communism.”

Right. Had the Truman administration not abandoned Vietnam to support France - and I understand why they saw that as a necessary evil - we could have had a much different outcome in Southeast Asia. Vietnamese nationalism was a lot more palpable in 1945 than it what it had morphed into by 1965.