USS Reuben James
The first American Naval ship lost in World War II was not sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Over a month before, on October 31, 1941, the destroyer USS Reuben James, escorting a convoy bound for Britain, was sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine, U552 near Iceland. Of the 159-man crew, only 44 survived. This was the third attack by German submarines on US destroyers. On September 1941, the destroyer USS Greer exchanged fire with a German submarine, but was not hit. Then, on October 17th, the destroyer USS Kearny was hit by a German torpedo but survived. Eleven crew members were killed and 22 injured in the attack.
The sinking of the Reuben James was memorialized by the American folk singer Woody Guthrie:
My dad was killed on the Reuben james.his name was Edward Peter saltis.
My friend Edmund Nass was one of the survivors.
My Uncle Roy Virgil Bush Fireman 2nd Class was a survivor of the sinking of the Reuben James…was born in Ashtabula, OH.
Our Uncle Donald C. Kapp, from Ithaca, NY, lost his life on the Reuben James.