Dawn of war: The Lusitania was torpedoed 105 years ago today

When “doughboys” – a term of endearment U.S. troops embraced – stepped upon the European battlefields of WWI, they donned M1917 helmets.
 

Virtually identical to the original Mark I British helmet, the steel M1917 was first worn by the American Expeditionary Front on the war’s Western Front. The American version managed to advance the ballistic protection compared to that of its English counterpart.
 

The seeds of that war – famously christened “the war to end all wars” – were planted on this day 105 years ago when a German U-boat near the southern coast of Ireland fired a torpedo and sank the RMS Lusitania.

US Library of Congress

The Lusitania, leaving New York City, was bound for Liverpool.
 
Submarines, being a new mode of travel and espionage at the time, were feared. In fact, a warning was published that any vessel flying the British flag – or a flag of a British ally – was subject to attack. There were doubts, however, that anyone would torpedo a passenger ship.
 
The liner – 787 feet long and lightning quick – sank in less than 20 minutes. The attack killed 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.
 
One of the Americans was 37-year-old Author Gwynne Vanderbilt, a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family. It was famously reported that he gave his life vest to a mother holding an infant child – even tying it for her since she didn’t have a free hand. Vanderbilt could not swim, and his body was never recovered.
 
Although the British government reportedly knew the U-boat was lurking in the waters off the coast of Ireland, it was never communicated to the Lusitania’s captain. The captain, for his part, also thought he would receive a British escort to protect his ship through tense waters. An escort never showed up.
 
Conspiracy theories – some zanier than others – abound to this day.
 
Alas, neutral attitudes could not be sustained. President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany in 1917.
 
True to ever-present American ingenuity, we’re still improving ballistic protection 105 years later.