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(Friday, October 31, 1941, about 5:34 a.m. local time; 37 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) — While escorting Allied convoy HX 156 in the North Atlantic, the American destroyer USS Reuben James was sunk by the German submarine U-552 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp this morning in the North Atlantic near Iceland, with the loss of 100 of 144 crew.

It was the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in World War II.

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The Reuben James had sailed from Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, on Oct. 23, 1941, with four other destroyers, escorting eastbound Convoy HX 156. At dawn on Oct. 31, 1941, it was positioned between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German “wolfpack,” a group of submarines poised to attack the convoy.

The destroyer was not flying the Ensign of the United States, and was in the process of dropping depth charges on another U-boat when it was engaged. Reuben James was hit forward by a torpedo meant for a merchant ship and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow sank immediately. The aft section floated for five minutes before going down.

Of a crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men plus one enlisted passenger, 100 were killed, leaving only 44 enlisted men and no officers who survived the attack.