cap rai ns to survive the wa r. Topp had fo ll owed co nvoy H X-156 for nea rl y three hours o n rh e surface before he arrived at a favo rable attack position .As he approached fro m the po rt side of the co nvoy, Reuben James beca me his nearest targe t. J usr befo re attacking, Topp sent o ur a co ntact report o n th e co nvoy, and it was rhe bea rin g of this radi o transm ission that Reuben James had bee n ordered to inves ri gare. U-552 was surface d about 1,000 yards to port of Reuben James when Topp ordered two torpedoes to be fired. T he first one struck the destroye r, ex plodin g rhe forward magazin e and sinkin g Reuben James within 15 minutes. T he acceleratin g attacks and casualti es o n Kearny and Reuben James sparked a public-and then congress ional- res ponse. At the urging of Pres ident Roosevelt, Co ngress amended the Ne ut rality Act to remove the "cany" porrion of" cash and cariy." T he rev isio n permirred armin g American merchant ships and al lowed them ro ca rry war mate rials in to com bat zo nes . On th e Ger man side, Hitl er at first fea red rh e sinking of Reuben James migh t provo ke wa r, bur he soo n became reassured th at it wo uld not. H e th en authorized previously proscribed U- boar operations offNewfou ndl and. T he existence of the heretofore undeclared naval wa r in the Arlamic co uld now hardl y be disguised. Al l p retense disappea red on ly six weeks late r, afre r the J apanese arrack o n Pearl H arb o r, whe n Germany and the US mutuall y declared war o n 11 D ecembe r 194 1. In his bombas tic speech th at day declaringwa ron the US, Hider condemn ed, amo ng other things, Pres ident Roosevelt's "shoot-o n-sight" order to the A rlan tic Fleer and the illegal A merica n occupati o ns of Green land and Iceland. Most co ntemporary Americans recall the 7 D ece mber Japanese attack o n Pea rl H arb or as the beginnin g of WWII for the US . Bur for American sail ors engaged in esco rtin g No rth Atl antic convoys, a wa r betwee n Ger many and th e US had already been ragin g fo r several months. And crew members killed in action aboard Kearny and Reuben James paid the ultim ate pri ce befo re Wo rl d War II legally began. ,t
William H. Langenberg is a retired Rear Admiral ofthe US Naval Reserve. H is writing on military history has appeared in Na val War Co ll ege Rev iew, Sea C lass ics, Naval Histo ry and many other periodicals.
SEA HISTORY 87, WINTER 1998-99
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