On an afternoon just such as this, eighty-nine years ago, the ocean liner Lusitania was struck by a German torpedo and was at the bottom of the Celtic Sea within 20 minutes. Almost all the passengers and crew perished, and most significantly, many of them were Americans. Many believe this event precipitated the entry of America in to World War One, and have a sneaking suspicion that the British withheld intelligence about sub activity in the area.

Fact is, the captain of the Lusitania had been given instructions to take evasive counter measures, and the German's had been very open about their intention to attack British ships. It was full steam ahead though for the Lusitania, even though it was carry 173 tons of munitions for the war effort. After the sinking the American government sent not one, but three nasty letters to the Germans, who eventually said they were very sorry, and promised not to do it again.

Within the year though they had sunk an Italian liner, and in 1917 they pushed it too far and sunk the U.S. liner, Housatonic. In March of the same year they sunk four more U.S. merchant ships and Pres. Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against them no count Squareheads. And so begun one of several bail-outs of Britain by the U.S., a fact that everyone is kind enough to remind me of on a daily basis.

From this point forward the German's went on bit of a World War losing streak, and to add insult to injury, they lost the 1966 World Cup final to England, 3-1. "Gott in Himmel!", they might have said.

The moral of this tale? Don't make like Germans tomorrow.