World War II
The Rest of the Story
The Greer Incident
The "Greer Incident" occurred 4 September 1941
two hundred miles southwest of Iceland, USS Greer knifed through the
cold, gray Atlantic, taking the mail to our troops in Reykjavik.
Suddenly the wake of a torpedo came streaking towards the ship.
The little destroyer put her helm over and by the grace of God
was not hit. For several hours the Greer quartered the seas releasing
depth charges at every suspicion of an underwater object. Apparently
the U-boat escaped.
The Navy later recanted its tale of the Greer's innocence
and admitted that the destroyer had been aiding a British
air patrol against the U-boat when it was attacked.
The President addressed the nation saying "This is piracy".
"If German or Italian vessels of war enter the waters the protection
of which is necessary for the American defense, they do so at their
own peril." This was the shoot on sight order. "The waters ... necessary..." that extended protection (attack) to the whole North Atlantic.
Return to : Belligerent Acts Prior to US Entry into WW2
USS Kearny
On October 16, 1941, three ships in convoy SC-48 of four dozen ships bound for England, were torpedoed by U-Boats. One of the escorts was the new American destroyer, USS Kearny (DD-432). Kearny moved toward the position of the U-Boats and began dropping depth charges. The attack continued throughout the night. Just after midnight, October 17, Kearny was torpedoed by U-568. This caused the deaths of 11 sailors ; another 22 were injured. The torpedo struck on the starboard side with such force that it nearly cut the ship in two. The crew managed to confine the flooding to the forward fire room. The ship was able to steam away with power from the after fire room toward Iceland at between 5 and 10 knots for temporary repairs. On May 28, 1942, the British sank U-568 in the Mediterranean Sea. All hands survived the sinking and were taken as POWs.
Reuben James
In March 1941, Reuben James (DD-245) joined the convoy escort force established to promote the safe arrival of war material to Britain. This escort force guarded convoys as far as Iceland, where they became responsibility of British escorts. Based at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, it sailed from Argentia, Newfoundland, 23 October 1941, with four other destroyers to escort eastbound convoy HX-156. Reuben James had dropped two depth charges on targets and had tied the safety locks to automatically arm the depth charges. While escorting that convoy at about 0525, 31 October 1941, Reuben James was torpedoed by German submarine U-552. The ship had postured itself between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German U-Boat Wolfpack. Its magazine exploded, and the foreward half of ship sank quickly. When the stern half went down, the depth charges went off. Of the crew, 44 survived, and 100 died. Reuben James was the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II.
ZAMAZM Drivers
Short of War :
On 28 October, while Yorktown(CV-5), New Mexico (BB-40), and other American warships were screening a convoy ; these were some of the ships FDR had transferred from Pearl Harbor to the Atlantic in May 1941. A destroyer picked up a submarine contact and dropped depth charges while the convoy itself made the first of the convoy's three emergency changes of course. Late that afternoon, engine repairs to one of the ships in the convoy reduced the convoy's speed to 11 knots.
During the night, the American ships intercepted strong German radio signals, indicating submarines probably in the vicinity reporting the group. RAdm Hewitt, commanding the escort force sent a destroyer to sweep astern of the convoy to destroy the U-boat or at least to drive him under.
The next day, while cruiser scout-planes patrolled overhead, Yorktown and Savannah fueled their escorting destroyers, finishing the task just at dusk. On the 30th, Yorktown was preparing to fuel three destroyers when other escorts made sound contacts. The convoy subsequently made 10 emergency turns while Morris (DD-417) and Anderson (DD-411) dropped depth charges, and Hughes (DD-410) assisted in developing the contact. Anderson later made two more depth charge attacks, noticing "considerable oil with slick spreading but no wreckage."
The short-of-war period was becoming more like the real thing as each
day went on. Elsewhere on 30 October, more than a month before Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, U-562 torpedoed the destroyer Reuben James (DD-245), sinking her with a heavy loss of life --the first loss of an American warship in World War II.
Twenty thousand British troops were met by New Mexico (BB-40), Yorktown (CV-5), Savannah (CL-42) Philadelphia ( CL-41), and destroyers at Mid Atlantic on Nov 2, 1941, and escorted to Halifax. (See above.) The 18th Division embarqued six US passenger ships Nov 10, 1941 under escort of USN TF-14 : Ranger (CV-4)
(to Tridad), Quincy (CA-39), Vincennes (CA-44), and destroyers, destination Egypt by way of Cape Town. En route, Pearl Harbor officially brought American into the war and a new destination for the British division. These troops debarked at Singapore as the Japanese were entering the city. The troop transports were fired upon by Japanese artillary, but escaped. The troops marched into the city and continued on to Prisoner Camps for the duration of the war.
More -- offsite
The B-29 was accellerated into production with insufficient time to test and correct problems. To lighten weight, the engines had magnesium parts and added a second row of pistons that could not be sufficiently cooled. Upper cyliners had to be changed every 25 hours (400 hrs by end of war). If an overheated engine caught fire, the crew had 90 seconds to bailout before the wing burned through. The planes were assembled by massive numbers of people with no experience.
FRD promised 150 planes to attack Japan from China. This required a supply line through India. Some B-29 were converted to fuel tankers. Japanese army
threatened, so the air fields were well inland; only southern Japan could be reached. 92 planes left Indian bases to relay fields in China, then Japan, 47 planes bombed the primary target 13June44 with one bomb hit. Theater commands demanded that locally important targets be hit. The XXth AF transferred to Tinian 1Apr'45.
Adm Nimitz had been told to bypass islands so as to occupy the Marianna's soonest.
The B-29 was rushed into operations from Saipan which was declared secure 9July44. Snipers continued to harrass construction crews.
The flight from Saipan to Tokyo and back was 3,200 miles. In the first raid, 24Nov44 of
110 planes, 17 planes aborted from overheaded engines. That raid had to fly around a typhoon and encountered the 200 mph jet stream, then unknown, plus cloud cover. There was one runway on Saipan, the next nearest was 1,200 miles away. Therefore if a plane crashed on return, all following would be lost. The need for Iwo Jima as an emergency landing site, and eventually a major base, was evident to support the strategy of bombing Japan into submission. The last raid was by 828 B-29s with no losses.
The Consolidated B-32 (improved B-24) was authorized at the same time as the B-29 (improved B-17) and flew first, but it had developmental problems, too, and only 115 were built and 17 saw combat from a test site in the Philippines. Others did photo reconn from Okinawa to monitor surrender compliance and were attacked on 17 and 18Aug'45 -- the last man killed in WW2 was a B-32 photographer.
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Last updated on June 6, 2009 -- add B-29
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