America edged closer to declaring war on Germany
Historian Malcolm Goode looks at events from October 1941 - the month that the United States first contemplated joining the war effort after the loss of scores of members of its navy
ON October 24, 1941, Convoy HX-156 set off from Newfoundland with desperately needed supplies for Britain.
As was now the norm under the Lease/lend Act between the United States and Britain, the convoys would be escorted halfway by American warships as far as Iceland, where British escorts took over.
On October 31, just as dawn was breaking, the warship USS Rueben James was torpedoed near Iceland by the German Submarine U-552 commanded by Kaptinlieutenant Erich Topp.
The Rueben James – one of the escort ships in the convoy – had positioned herself between a merchant ammunition ship and was just in the process of dropping depth charges when she was attacked.
The American destroyer was hit by a torpedo that was meant for the merchant ship, and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded.
The bow sank immediately, the aft section of the ship floating for a few minutes before going down. Of the crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men, 100 were killed, leaving only 44 enlisted men who survived the attack.
For the United States, the sinking of the USS Rueben James by a German U-boat was to prove a key moment.
In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the US Navy to shoot on sight any Axis warships.
When Winston Churchill heard the news he cabled Roosevelt, saying he “grieved at the loss of life you have suffered with the Rueben James”.
The Daily Mail prophetically predicted that the United States of America was “marching down the last mile to a declaration of war”.
Less than six weeks later, America would reach the end of that mile.