Eighty Three Years Ago Today: The Sinking of the USS Reuben James – October 31, 1941

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:

Sinking of the Reuben James – Woody Guthrie


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.