Video: '1941 German Torpedo Hits USS Kearney World War Two'

(Friday, October 17, 1941, 1:00 a.m. Icelandic Standard Summer Time; during the Kearny incident) — American destroyer USS Kearny (DD 432), dispatched to defend Allied convoy SC 48 from a German wolfpack, was torpedoed today on her starboard side by the German submarine U-568 while on patrol about 350 miles south and west of Iceland, but did not sink.

Video: 'The World at War: On Our Way: U.S.A. - 1939-1942 (7 of 26)' (Kearny incident at 13:44)'

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.

Eleven men were killed and 22 others were injured in the explosion. They were first American casualties of World War II, although this incident occurred before the U.S. had entered the war.