USS Reuben James (i) (DD 245)

USS Reuben James before World War 2

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Clemson
Pennant	DD 245
Built by	New York Shipbuilding Corp. (Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	2 Apr 1919
Launched	4 Oct 1919
Commissioned	24 Sep 1920
Lost	31 Oct 1941
Loss position	51° 59'N, 27° 05'W

History	Reuben James was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 20 January 1931 and recommissioned there on 9 March 1932. USS Reuben James (Lt.Cdr. Heywood Lane Edwards, USN) was escorting convoy HX-156 with four other destroyers of the US Escort Group 4.1.3. and at 0834 hours was hit by a torpedo in position 51º59'N, 27º05'W, which ignited the ammunition in the forward magazine. The explosion split the ship in two, the forward section sank immediately taking all hands on that part of the ship with her. As the stern sank the depth charges exploded and killed some survivors in the water. The destroyer USS Niblack (DD 424) rescued 36 men (one of them died of wounds on 2. November) and USS Hilary P. Jones (DD 427) picked up 10 more. 115 of the crew were killed including all the officers. Hit by U-boat Sunk on 31 Oct 1941 by U-552 (Topp).
U-boat Attack	See our U-boat attack entry for the USS Reuben James (i)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Edward Conrad Metcalfe, USN	10 Mar 1938	6 Apr 1940
2	Lt.Cdr. Heywood Lane Edwards, USN	6 Apr 1940	31 Oct 1941 (+)

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