USS Reuben James (DD-245)

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USS Reuben James (DD-245) was a four-funnel Template:Sclass that was constructed after World War I. She was the first United States Navy ship to be named after Boatswain's Mate Reuben James (Template:Circa 1776–1838), who had distinguished himself fighting in the First Barbary War, and was the first US navy ship to be sunk by hostile action in the European Theater of World War II. Four US flagged merchant ships were also sunk by hostile action before Pearl Harbor.

Reuben James was laid down on 2 April 1919 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, launched on 4 October 1919, and commissioned on 24 September 1920. The destroyer was sunk by a torpedo attack from German submarine Template:GS near Iceland on 31 October 1941,<ref name=DANFS/> resulting in the deaths of 100 crewmembers, before the United States had officially joined the war.

Early service history

Assigned to the US Atlantic Fleet, Reuben James served in the Mediterranean Sea from 1921 to 1922 after she had left from Newport, Rhode Island, on 30 November 1920, to Zelenika, Yugoslavia, and arrived on 18 December. During the spring and the summer of 1921, she sailed in the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean out of Zelenika and Gruž (Dubrovnik), Yugoslavia and assisted refugees and participated in postwar investigations and the Allied occupation of the eastern Adriatic. In October 1921 at Le Havre, she joined the protected cruiser Template:USS at ceremonies marking the return of the Unknown Soldier to the United States. At Danzig, from 29 October 1921 to 3 February 1922, she assisted the American Relief Administration in its efforts to relieve hunger and misery. After duty in the Mediterranean, she departed Gibraltar on 17 July.<ref name=DANFS/>

Then based at New York City, she patrolled the coast of Nicaragua to prevent the delivery of weapons to revolutionaries in early 1926. During the spring of 1929, she participated in fleet maneuvers that helped develop naval airpower. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 20 January 1931. She was recommissioned on 9 March 1932 and started operating again in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea by patrolling Cuban waters during the coup by Fulgencio Batista. She transferred to San Diego in 1934. After maneuvers that evaluated aircraft carriers, she returned to the Atlantic Fleet in January 1939.<ref name=DANFS/>

World War II

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At the beginning of World War II in Europe in September 1939, Reuben James was assigned to the Neutrality Patrol, which guarded the Atlantic and the Caribbean approaches to the American coast. In March 1941, she joined the force established to escort convoys sailing to Great Britain. The force escorted convoys as far as Iceland, after which the convoys became the responsibility of British escorts. The force was based at Hvalfjörður, Iceland, and commanded by Lieutenant Commander Heywood Lane Edwards, the commander of Reuben James.<ref name=DANFS/> On 23 October she sailed from Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, with four other destroyers, escorting eastbound Convoy HX 156.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Sinking

At dawn on 31 October 1941, she was torpedoed near Iceland<ref name=CommanderIn>Template:Cite book</ref> by German submarine Template:GS commanded by Template:Lang Erich Topp. Reuben James had positioned herself between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German "wolfpack," a group of submarines poised to attack the convoy. The destroyer was not flying the ensign of the United States and was in the process of dropping depth charges on another U-boat when she was engaged.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Reuben James was hit forward by a torpedo meant for a merchant ship and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow sank immediately. The aft section floated for five minutes before going down. Of a crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men, plus one enlisted passenger, 100 were killed. Only 44 enlisted men and no officers survived.<ref name=DANFS/><ref name=CommanderIn/>

Convoys escorted

Convoy Escort Group Dates Notes
ON 20 30 September–9 October 1941<ref name="onconvoy">Template:Cite web</ref> from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war
HX 156 24–31 October 1941<ref name="hxconvoy">Template:Cite web</ref> from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war; sunk by Template:GS

Awards

Music

Literature

  • William Boyd in his novel Restless refers to the sinking of the ship, although he claims that the dead numbered 115.

Stamps

See also

Notes

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References

Template:Attacks on US Navy ships Template:Clemson class destroyer Template:October 1941 shipwrecks Template:Authority control

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