[SandRat]

At sea with USS Rueben James (FFG 57) Sep. 23, 2002 -- An aerial view of the U.S. Navy guided missile frigate USS Reuben James (FFG 57). Frigates fulfill a protection of shipping (POS) mission as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys. Rueben James is a part of the USS Abraham Lincoln Battle group and is on a scheduled six-month deployment conducting combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Aaron Ansarov. (RELEASED)

[SandRat]

NAVY Cares and follows the law of the Sea for Ships in Distress.

[Alter Kaker]

What were their names? I have a friend on the good Reuben James.

[Bean Counter]

USS Reuben James was one of the vessels in Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising", was it not???

[edwin hubble]

Ballad of the Reuben James
Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie 1942

Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.

CHORUS:
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

One hundred men were drowned in that dark watery grave
When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.
'Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four
From the cold icy waters off that cold Iceland shore.

It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.

Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright
In the farms and in the cities they're telling of the fight.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of that good Reuben James.

[Nuc1]

Pretty ship. Interesting that the one apparent gun is mounted amidships and high rather than on the fore deck near the nose cone, bow to all you skimmers. What ever happened to tradition?;)