January 2003 Cover |
by Steve Shay |
|
USS REUBEN JAMES |
|
|
Destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) was commissioned in 1920, one of the many destroyers authorized during World War I. Unlike many, she would remain in commission through the 1920's. (Many newly built destroyers were decommissioned and put into mothballs.) In 1929 Reuben James participated in fleet maneuvers when the advantage of naval airpower was shown. During the exercise, the USS Saratoga was detached from the fleet and with only a cruiser for escort, her air group "surprise attacked" the Panama Canal on January 26, 1929. This cover was postmarked February 1, probably just after the exercise ended. It is addressed to the tailor Julius Horowitt in Brooklyn. On October 31, 1941 Reuben James would be torpedoed by a German submarine while escorting a convoy bound for Great Britain. She sank quickly and was the first US Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II. |
