I’ve got a record of the Kingston Trio singing that song.
Thanks for the history lesson.
The Reuben James was of the same class of destroyers as many of those given to the UK as part of the Lend Lease Act. Moreover, she was off the coast of Ireland when she was torpedoed.
Even though it was perfectly understandable a German sub skipper would assume that it was a British ship at the time (based on the class of ship as well as its location), it made no matter to the interventionists; they would pull out all of the stops to make this their "Lusitania".
Fortunately, the American people still had enough of a healthy skepticism of those in positions of influence (we're getting this back now) to recognize when they were being lied to, and resisted the push for entering the war.
I had heard of the song but did not know the meaning.
All 7 officers went down with the ship and 93 enlisted.
We should have declared war on Germany then.
Thanks for posting
True, if one ignores the USS Panay.
The Almanac Singers were Communists who slavishly followed Moscow's party line. The previous year, when the Soviet Union and Germany were at peace, they were waxing anti-war songs such as this:
Plow Under (1941)
6 months from laying her keel to christening in 1919. That seems quick to me.
Reuben James sinking coordinates : 51°59’5”N 27°5’2”W’
700 miles south of Iceland
650 miles west of Ireland
In October 1941, The USS Kearny was docked at Reykjavík, in U.S.-occupied Iceland. A “wolfpack” of German U-boats attacked a nearby British convoy, and overwhelmed her Canadian escorts. Kearny and three other U.S. destroyers were summoned to assist.
Immediately on reaching the action, Kearny dropped depth charges on the U-boats, and continued to barrage throughout the night. (This action was specifically cited as a provocation in Hitler’s declaration of war on the U.S. two months later.) At the beginning of the midwatch 17 October, a torpedo fired by U-568 struck Kearny on the starboard side. The crew confined flooding to the forward fire room, enabling the ship to get out of the danger zone with power from the aft engine and fire room. Regaining power in the forward engine room, Kearny steamed to Iceland at 10 knots (20 km/h), arriving 19 October.
Kearny lost 11 men killed, and 22 others were injured. After temporary repairs Kearny got underway Christmas Day 1941, and moored six days later at Boston, Massachusetts, for permanent repairs.
Two weeks earlier on October 17 of that month the U 568 torpedoed the destroyer U.S.S. Kearny(DD 432), killing 11 men and wounding 22 others.
Kearny, NJ is where the ship was built ans was named after the towns most famous local son Union General Phil Kearny.
I was born and raised in the town.
FDR’s “rattlesnakes of the Atlantic” speech was given on September 11, 1941, so the sinking of the USS Reuben James was not the first trouble we had with the Germans.