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Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia

USS Reuben James (DD-245)

Clemson-class destroyer (4f/2m) L/B/D: 314.3 × 30.5 × 8.6 (95.8m × 9.3m × 2.6m) Tons: 1,090 disp Hull: steel Comp: 101 Arm: 4 × 4 (2 × 2), 1 × 3; 4 × 21TT Mach: geared turbines, 27,700 shp, 2 screws; 35 kts Built: New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; 1920.

Named for a veteran of the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars (during which James was credited with saving Stephen Decatur's life aboard Intrepid), and the War of 1812, USS Reuben James was a World War I-era flush-deck destroyer. Commissioned just after World War I, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and took part in postwar relief activities in the Adriatic, Mediterranean, and at Danzig under the auspices of the American Relief Administration. Homeported at New York from 1922, in 1926 she was stationed off Nicaragua to prevent arms from reaching General Agustino Sandino's forces during his uprising against President Emiliano Chamorro. From September 1933 to January 1934, she patrolled Cuban waters following a coup led by Fulgencia Batista. Transferred to San Diego in 1934, she remained in Pacific waters until recalled to the Atlantic in January 1939. In March 1941 Reuben James was assigned to the escort force based at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, to provide cover for eastbound British convoys between Newfoundland and Iceland. On October 23, she sailed from Argentia, Newfoundland, with four other destroyers escorting convoy HX-156. Shortly before dawn on October 31, the convoy was attacked by U-562, and at 0525, Reuben James was struck by a torpedo that detonated her magazine. The ship sank quickly and only 44 of her 159 crew survived. Though the destroyers USS Greer and Kearny had engaged U-boats before, Reuben James was the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk in World War II. Her loss inspired one of the first antiwar songs of World War II, "Reuben James."

U.S. Navy, DANFS.



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