<ul class="summary-list"><li>On October 31, 1941, <keyword id="12396036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uss-reuben-james" source="Orion">USS Reuben James</keyword> became the first US warship sunk by enemy action in <keyword id="11938566" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="world-war-ii" source="Orion">World War II</keyword>.</li><li>It was the culmination of months of fighting between the US and German navies in the Atlantic.</li></ul><p>Around 5:30 a.m. on October 31, 1941, an explosion ripped through the US <keyword id="12396035" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="navy-destroyer" source="Orion">Navy destroyer</keyword> <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/reuben-james-i.html" target="_top">USS Reuben James</a> as it and other destroyers escorted 42 merchant ships across the Atlantic to Britain.</p><p>The explosion, caused by a torpedo that detonated the destroyer's magazine, was so intense that the bow was completely blown off. The ship sank in about five minutes - so fast that no official order to abandon ship could be given.</p><p>It was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-nazi-u-boat-sank-the-first-us-warship-of-wwii-on-halloween-1941-2018-10" target="_top">first US Navy warship sunk by enemy action</a> in World War II, and the US wasn't even at war when it happened.</p><h2>War closes in</h2><div type="image" title="Franklin Roosevelt aboard a battleship" height="1621" width="2000" msid="87292449" hostid="261"></div><p>The situation on the Atlantic was tense by fall 1941. Despite the US's stated commitment to neutrality, President Franklin Roosevelt had taken a number of actions to help the Allies, especially Britain.</p><p>In October 1939, weeks after the war's start, the US had <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1941/prelude.html" target="_top">established a neutrality zone</a> extending some 300 nautical miles off the coasts of the independent countries of North and South America. US Navy patrols would broadcast the position of German U-boats, exposing them to Allied warships.</p><p>The US also supplied food and military equipment to Britain through agreements like the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-destroyers-bases-deal" target="_top">Destroyers-for-Bases Deal</a> and the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/lend-lease-act-1" target="_top">Lend-Lease Program</a>.</p><p>By the end of September 1941, the US had expanded the neutrality zone and the patrols within it as far as Greenland, the defense of which the US <a href="https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/guard-us/ch17.htm" target="_top">had taken over</a>. The US also <a href="https://www.history.co.uk/history-of-ww2/iceland-during-ww2" target="_top">occupied Iceland</a>, at the request of Britain, and began escorting convoys there from Canada.</p><p>There had also been low-level combat between US and German forces.</p><p>On April 10, 1941, the destroyer <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/niblack.html" target="_top">USS Niblack</a> attacked a German <keyword id="12396037" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="u-boat" source="Orion">U-boat</keyword> with depth charges near Iceland, driving the sub away from a convoy. On September 4, a German U-boat fired a torpedo at the destroyer <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/g/greer.html" target="_top">USS Greer</a> without hitting it.</p><p>Neither incident caused casualties, but the attack on Greer led Roosevelt to issue a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-fdrs-shoot-sight-fireside-chat" target="_top">"shoot-on-sight"</a> order for any German or Italian warships in waters deemed to be "necessary for American defense."</p><p>On October 17, 1941, the first US blood was spilled when the destroyer <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/k/kearny.html" target="_top">USS Kearny</a> was hit by a German torpedo while escorting a convoy in the North Atlantic. Though the ship itself survived, 11 sailors were killed and 22 wounded.</p><h2>USS Reuben James</h2><div type="image" title="Navy destroyer USS Reuben James" height="871" width="1162" msid="87292450" hostid="261"></div><p>A little more than a week after the Kearny attack, the U-boat U-552 was lurking off Iceland, approaching a convoy guarded by US warships. One of them was Reuben James, which was sent to investigate a suspicious signal near the convoy.</p><p>The US destroyer was between an ammunition ship and the U-boat when it was struck by a torpedo. It sank so quickly that in the early-morning darkness the commander of the escort force couldn't tell which ship had been attacked until Reuben James didn't respond to a check-in call.</p><p>Only two sailors from the front end of the ship survived the blast. During the five minutes Reuben James remained afloat after the attack, sailors jumped from the rear of the ship into the oil-covered water. Moments after the destroyer slipped beneath the waves, however, at least two of its depth charges detonated, killing or wounding even more sailors.</p><p>Four escort ships remained, one of which was USS Niblack. Niblack and another escort were sent to search for survivors, which the darkness, oil-covered water, and the threat of another U-boat attack made more difficult.</p><p>Of the ship's 144-man crew, only 44 survived. Ninety-three enlisted sailors and all seven officers were killed.</p><p>After the rescue, the escort ships went on the offensive, trying to attack U-552 with dozens of depth charges. The U-boat escaped, however, and the next day, the Americans turned the convoy over to the Royal Navy and headed for Iceland.</p><p>The convoy made it to England without any more attacks by U-552 or other U-boats. Reuben James was the only casualty.</p><h2>'The shooting has started'</h2><div type="image" title="US Coast Guard Navy World War II WWII convoy submarine depth charge" height="1050" width="1400" msid="87292451" hostid="261"></div><p>The attack on the Kearny and the sinking of the Reuben James solidified Roosevelt's support of the Allies.</p><p>"We have wished to avoid shooting, but the shooting has started, and history has recorded who has fired the first shot," Roosevelt said in a Navy Day <a href="https://footagefarm.com/reel-details/personalities/franklin-droosevelt/fdr-navy-day-dinner-speech---oct-27-1941#/" target="_top">speech</a> on October 27. "Our ships have been sunk and our sailors have been killed. I say that we do not propose to take this lying down."</p><p>Germany <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-nazi-u-boat-sank-the-first-us-warship-of-wwii-on-halloween-1941-2018-10" target="_top">was unapologetic</a>. Roosevelt denounced Germany and promised that escorts of Allied merchant ships to Iceland would continue. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox even <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0t_JAgAAQBAJ&amp;dq=%22Worse+than+piracy,acy," target="_top">called</a> the incident "worse than piracy."</p><p>But Roosevelt knew most of the country was still against getting directly involved in the war in Europe, so the US took no further action in response to the sinking.</p><p>Only when the US and Germany declared war on each other on December 11, 1941, did the US fully commit to the war in Europe. The US Navy, though, had effectively been at war in the Atlantic for months.</p>

The Nazis were already shooting at US warships months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d52febacd978471b93ea716-1400/2969524.jpg" alt="Navy destroyer helm pilot house" /><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Petty Officer 3rd Class Taylor A. Elberg</span></p><p class="caption">Petty Officer 3rd Class Nctees Thao mans the helm of guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt, October 27, 2016.</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Recruiting has emerged as one of the main challenges for the US military service branches in recent years.</li><li>Each branch is taking steps to attract and retain the personnel it wants. For the Navy, appealing to new sailors now could have a long-lasting impact on its ships.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>More than one <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/army-revamps-personnel-management-amid-turn-to-great-power-competition-2020-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">senior military leader</a> has said the services are facing a "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-war-for-talent-struggle-to-attract-immigrants-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">war for talent</a>," as a stronger economy and two decades of war, among other factors, make military service less appealing to young Americans.</p><p>The Army, striving to reach 500,000 active-duty soldiers by the end of this decade, has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/army-is-using-esports-to-put-to-recruit-american-teenagers-2020-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rolled out an esports team</a> to attract recruits. The Air Force, facing a protracted pilot shortage, capitalized on the recent blockbuster "Captain Marvel" with <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/05/captain-marvel-effect-air-force-academy-sees-most-female-applicants-5-years.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recruiting drive</a>.</p><p>For the Navy, which wants more ships to do more operations across a greater area, the effort to attract more people - and the right people - is influencing ship design, the service's top civilian official said this week.</p><p>"What we have to think about - and we're sort of a platform-centric service, both us and the Marine Corps - is how do we reduce the number of people we have and that distributed maritime force that we have? How do we get lethality out there without having to have 300 people on a ship to deliver it?" Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Friday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in response to a question about personnel costs, which <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/01/31/the-pentagon-is-racing-against-inflation-for-military-might/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rise faster</a> than inflation.</p><p>"It also requires, I think, an increase in the level of capability and skill that we have in the force, and that's why we're investing so much in education, because you're going to ask these people to do a lot more and to be a lot more adaptable in the jobs that ... we're asking them to do," Modly said.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e52aceafee23d6382385663-1400/418527.jpg" alt="Navy frigate Reuben James" /><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Barker</span></p><p class="caption">Guided-missile frigate USS Reuben James at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, June 20, 2011.</p><p>That thinking was "sort of the philosophy" behind the Navy's future guided-missile frigate, Modly added.</p><p>Frigates do many of the same missions as destroyers and cruisers but are smaller and less equipped and therefore generally do those missions in lower-threat areas.</p><p>The Navy <a href="https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wants</a> the new frigate to be able to operate in open-ocean and near-shore environments and to conduct air, anti-submarine, surface, and electronic warfare and information operations.</p><p>"That's going to be a fairly lightly-manned ship with a lot of capability on it," Modly said.</p><p>"I had a great example of a ship, and I won't mention which manufacturer it was, but I went into the ship and they showed me a stateroom with four bunks and its own shower and bathroom facility," Modly said.</p><p>He continued: "I was in the Navy back in the Cold War, and I said, 'Wow, this is a really nice stateroom for officers.' They said, 'No, this where our enlisted people live.' And I said, 'Well, why did you design the ship like that?' And they said, 'We designed the ship like this for the type of people we want to recruit to man it.'"</p><p>"That's really what we have to think about," Modly added. "They're going to be more lightly manned but with probably more highly-skilled people who have lots of opportunities to do things in other places, so we have to be able to attract those people. That is a big, big part of our challenge."</p><h2>10 frigates in four years</h2><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e52aceafee23d643959ce54-1400/549301.jpg" alt="Navy frigate Reuben James" /><p class="source"><span>US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Sean Furey</span></p><p class="caption">Guided-missile frigate USS Reuben James in the Pacific, March 23, 2012.</p><p>The Navy's most recent frigates were the Oliver Hazard Perry class, or FFG-7 - 51 of which entered service between 1977 and 1989 and were decommissioned between 1994 and 2015.</p><p>While the design for the future frigate, designated FFG(X), has not yet been selected, the Navy plans to award the design and construction contract in July, according to budget documents released this month.</p><p>The Navy is only <a href="https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering</a> designs already in use, and the firms in the running are Fincantieri with its FREMM frigate design, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and Navantia with the latter's F-100 variant, Austal USA with a frigate version of its Independence-class littoral combat ship, and Huntington Ingalls with what many believe may be a variation of the National Security Cutter it's building for the Coast Guard, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/02/11/heres-the-timeline-for-the-us-navys-next-generation-frigate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Defense News</a>.</p><p>The Navy plans for design and construction of the first ship to take until 2026 but expects construction to increase rapidly thereafter, with the 10th arriving by 2030, eventually producing 20 of the new frigates.</p><p>Without an exact design, cost is hard to estimate, but the Navy wants to keep the price below a billion dollars per ship for the second through 20th ships and hit a total program cost of <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/02/11/heres-the-timeline-for-the-us-navys-next-generation-frigate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$19.81 billion</a>.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e52b12bfee23d66006c4523-1400/1039112.jpg" alt="Navy frigate Samuel B. Roberts" /><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Cmdr. Corey Barker</span></p><p class="caption">Guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts returns to Naval Station Mayport, October 23, 2013.</p><p>The Navy also wants to use dual-crewing to maximize the time its future frigates spend at sea.</p><p>Switching between a "blue crew" and a "gold crew" extends the amount of time the ship can operate - allowing frigates to take on missions that larger combatants, like destroyers, have been saddled with - without increasing the burden on the crew and their families; it's already in use on ballistic-missile submarines and littoral combat ships.</p><p>Dual-crewing "should double" the new frigate's operational availability, Vice Adm. Ronald Boxall, then the surface-warfare director for the chief of naval operations, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/01/30/the-us-navy-is-planning-for-its-new-frigate-to-be-a-workhorse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Defense News</a> at the end of 2018.</p><p>In the blue-gold crew model, the crew of the ship would still be working to improve their skills in what Boxall described as "higher-fidelity training environments."</p><p>"In an increasingly complex environment, it's just intuitive that you have to have time to train," Boxall <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/01/30/the-us-navy-is-planning-for-its-new-frigate-to-be-a-workhorse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Defense News</a>. "We think Blue-Gold makes sense for those reasons on the frigate."</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-annapolis-us-naval-academy-military-day-one-2019-8">We went inside the US Naval Academy at Annapolis to see what it's really like for new Navy plebes on their first day</a></h3>                    <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/wZzyKp8K-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>            

The military's 'war for talent' is affecting what the Navy's future ships will look like

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bd897e03815071b660b7a7a-1400/ussreubenjamesdd-245on29april1939.jpg" border="0" alt="US Navy Reuben James" data-mce-source="US Navy/Wikimedia Commons" data-mce-caption="US Navy destroyer USS Reuben James on the Hudson River in New York, April 29, 1943." data-link="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)#/media/File:USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)_on_29_April_1939.jpg" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)#/media/File:USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)_on_29_April_1939.jpg">US Navy/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">US Navy destroyer USS Reuben James on the Hudson River in New York, April 29, 1943.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>After the start of World War II in Europe in September 1939, the US, which hadn't declared war, provided some aid to Allied countries.</strong></li><li><strong>That included help escorting convoys across the Atlantic, which put US ships in the line of fire.</strong></li><li><strong>On October 31, 1941, a Nazi U-boat claimed the first US warship sunk by the enemy in World War II.</strong></li></ul><p>On October 23, 1941, US Navy destroyer USS Reuben James left Newfoundland to escort a convoy bound for Britain. Two days later, the German U-boat U-552 left the French port of St. Nazaire to prowl the North Atlantic on its sixth patrol.</p><p>The US was not a belligerant in the war in Europe at the time, but Washington <a href="http://www.uboataces.com/boa-america.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had set up</a> neutrality zones in the Atlantic in which its ships would guard British and neutral merchant ships. US ships would also notify convoys of U-boats' locations.</p><p>The James and the U-552 sailed a few weeks after a U-boat fired on the Navy destroyer USS Greer without hitting it. After that incident, President Franklin Roosevelt <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/7-2-188/188-29.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the public that "if German or Italian vessels of war enter the waters, the protection of which is necessary for American <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword>, they do so at their own peril."</p><p>In the early-morning hours of October 31, when the Reuben James and the U-552 crossed paths near Iceland, the de facto state of war between the US and Germany in the Atlantic intensified.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bd897d85f1f751bb22bb1f4-1200/bundesarchivbild101ii-mw-3676-28stnazaireubootu552.jpg" border="0" alt="Nazi Germany submarine U-boat U-552" data-mce-source="German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons" data-mce-caption="German Capt. Lt. Erich Topp and other crew members aboard the U-552 in St. Nazaire, France, October 6, 1942." data-link="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-3676-28,_St._Nazaire,_Uboot_U_552.jpg" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-3676-28,_St._Nazaire,_Uboot_U_552.jpg">German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">German Capt. Lt. Erich Topp and other crew members aboard the U-552 in St. Nazaire, France, October 6, 1942.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The James and four other US destroyers were escorting the more than 40 ships that made up HX-156, a convoy of merchant ships sailing from Halifax in Canada to Europe. At that time, US warships would escort convoys to Iceland, where British ships took over.</p><p>As day broke on October 31, the Reuben James was sailing at about 10 mph on the left rear side of the convoy. Just after 5:30 a.m., the U-552 fired on the James, its torpedoes ripping into the left side of the destroyer.</p><p><span>"One or more explosions" occurred near the forward fire room, "accompanied by a lurid orange flame and a high column of black smoke visible for several minutes at some miles," <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/reuben-james-i.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Navy's Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.</span></p><p><span>The ship's forward section was blown off, and it sank rapidly. Only two sailors on that part of the ship <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/reuben-james-i.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survived</a> the blast. Others who made it out were sailors "berthed, or on watch, [aft of] the forward fireroom."</span></p><p><span>No official order came to abandon ship, but crew members launched three rafts and started to leap overboard as the sea swallowed the ship. The captain <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/reuben-james-i.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had issued</a> life jackets to the crew and told them to have them on hand at all times, which meant many sailors were able to get to them as they fled the ship.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55fdc4c7bd86ef1f008bb99c-1240/bundesarchivdvm10bild-23-63-66u-bootu36.jpg" border="0" alt="Bundesarchiv u boat" data-mce-source="Bundesarchiv" /><p class="source"><span>Bundesarchiv</span></p><p class="caption">A German U-boat.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>While many men made it off, a number of those in the water around the ship were killed or later drowned after at least two depth charges on the ship detonated as it sank.</span></p><p><span>The escort commander sent two destroyers to investigate. With a smooth sea and little wind, they were able to spot the James' sailors just before 6 a.m. and began rescuing them minutes later. The destroyers' crews <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/reuben-james-i.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> cargo nets, Jacob's Ladders, life rings, and lines to pull survivors, many covered in oil, out of the water.</span></p><p><span>Rescue operations were over by 8 a.m.; 44 of the crew were recovered, but 93 enlisted men and all the ship's seven officers were killed.</span></p><p><span>US merchant ships had already been sunk in the Atlantic, and in mid-October, another US destroyer <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6KZSJrVM9pUC&amp;pg=PA161#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was hit</a> by a torpedo but made it to Iceland. But the James became the first US warship sunk by the enemy in World War II.</span></p><p><span>"The news of the torpedoing of one of our destroyers off Iceland was the first thing that the President spoke of this morning, and that has cast a shadow over the whole day," Eleanor Roosevelt <a href="http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/daybyday/event/november-1941/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on November 1. "I cannot help but think of every one of the 120 men and their families, who are anxiously awaiting news."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b773289b354cd1c008b5684-1400/ap430417015.jpg" border="0" alt="US Coast Guard Navy World War II WWII convoy submarine depth charge" data-mce-source="(AP Photo)" data-mce-caption="Under way in the Atlantic, coast guardsmen on deck of the US Coast Guard cutter Spencer watch the explosion of a depth charge, blasting a German submarine attempting to break into the center of the large US convoy on April 17, 1943. The attacking German U-boat 175 was critically damaged and sunk off the coast of Ireland." /><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo)</span></p><p class="caption">US Coast Guard cutter Spencer crew members watch a depth charge blast a German submarine attempting to break into a large US convoy, April 17, 1943. The U-boat was critically damaged and sunk off the coast of Ireland.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Germany was <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=fwmSAwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA216&amp;dq=David+H.+Atwater#v=onepage&amp;q=ERich%20Topp&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unapologetic</a>, saying US ships were escorting British ships in a war zone and had fired on German vessels before. The US didn't declare war, but the sinking drew the US further into the conflict in Europe, which was already more than two years old. </span></p><p><span>On November 1, Roosevelt <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2016-10/coast-guards-world-war-ii-crucible" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> an executive order reassigning <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-and-coast-guard-q-ships-like-venus-fly-traps-for-nazi-submarines-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the US Coast Guard</a> from the Treasury Department to the Navy. About two weeks later, under pressure from the president, Congress further amended the Neutrality Acts passed in the 1930s, revising them to allow US merchant ships to be armed and to sail into war zones.</span></p><p><span>On December 8, the US declared war on Japan after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/footage-of-pearl-harbor-japanese-attack-aftermath-2016-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the attack on Pearl Harbor</a>. Three days later, Germany declared war on the US.</span></p><p><span>The James was stricken from the Navy's official register on March 25, 1942. The U-552 continued the fight. It joined U-boats <a href="http://www.uboataces.com/boa-america.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that preyed</a> on US ships along the East Coast in 1942 but was later transferred to waters closer to Europe.</span></p><p><span>The U-552's success waned, as did that of the rest of the U-boat force, as the Allies improved their convoy and anti-submarine tactics and invaded Europe, recapturing ports. In early May 1945 - days before <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nazi-germany-surrender-victory-in-europe-ve-day-2017-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the surviving Nazi leadership surrendered</a> in Berlin - the U-552 was scuttled in waters off the North Sea.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-us-navy-submarine-military-training-armed-forces-2016-9">Everything you've ever wanted to know about life on a US Navy submarine</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7rZoegKy-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

77 years ago on Halloween, the first US warship sunk by the enemy in World War II was attacked by a Nazi U-boat

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a58db5af421493e0d8b48a6-1240/uss zumwalt.jpg" alt="USS Zumwalt" data-mce-source="Jeff Head/Flickr" data-mce-caption="The first Zumwalt-class destroyer, USS Zumwalt, DDG-1000, in the North Atlantic, Dec. 7, 2015." data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_head/23249177609/in/album-72157643814584774/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_head/23249177609/in/album-72157643814584774/">Jeff Head/Flickr</a></span></p><p class="caption">The first Zumwalt-class destroyer, USS Zumwalt, DDG-1000, in the North Atlantic, Dec. 7, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The Navy's Zumwalt-class destroyers are getting new missiles that will allow them to take on other surface vessels at long ranges.</strong></li><li><strong>The ships were originally intended to fill a land attack role.</strong></li><li><strong>The Navy is still searching for affordable ammunition for the main guns on the ships.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p><br />The Navy's most technologically advanced surface ships, the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers, are getting new weapons that will turn them into long range ship killers, according to budget documents <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/02/15/its-official-the-navys-new-stealth-destroyers-will-be-ship-killers/">spotted by Defense News</a>.</p><p>Ships will be armed with is Raytheon's<a href="https://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/sm-6/"> SM-6</a> missile, <span>a ballistic missile that serves three purposes; anti-air, anti-surface, and ballistic missile <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword>.</span></p><p><span>Unlike its older brother the SM-3, the SM-6 has a proximity charge that explodes near its target, meaning it does not have to make physical contact with whatever it is intercepting.</span></p><p><span>The Navy <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/how-sink-battleships-us-navys-anti-ship-sm-6-missile-15436">tested</a> the SM-6's anti-ship capability in March of 2016. A SM-6 from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer destroyed the decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Reuben James. Back then, its range was listed as 250 nautical miles, but is now <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a19380/the-navy-is-turning-its-air-defense-missile-into-a-supersonic-ship-killer/">expected</a> to be as high as 268 nautical miles. The missile also has a speed of mach 3.5.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a87670cd0307224008b4994-1100/zumwalt.jpg" alt="Zumwalt" data-mce-source="US Navy" data-mce-caption="USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) steams in formation with USS Independence (LCS 2) and USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) on the final leg of her three-month journey to her new homeport in San Diego, December 2016." /><p class="source"><span>US Navy</span></p><p class="caption">USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) steams in formation with USS Independence (LCS 2) and USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) on the final leg of her three-month journey to her new homeport in San Diego, December 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The SM-6 has had <a href="http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/13973/u-s-navys-hugely-versatile-sm-6-missile-keeps-scoring-hits">successful</a> results in its anti-ballistic missile tests, with the missile intercepting a target in Hawaii last August.</span></p><p><span>The stealth destroyers will also be equipped with Raytheons <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-navy-wants-new-tomahawk-missile-reason-22264">Maritime Strike Tomahawk</a>, a variant of the classic cruise missile that will be able to destroy moving naval targets.</span></p><p><span>The missiles are a much needed addition to the destroyers, since the ships' main armament, the two 155 mm Advanced Gun Systems, are unusable because <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-stealthy-zumwalt-mega-destroyer-doesnt-have-a-round-for-its-gun-2018-1">no ammunition</a> has been made for them. The original rounds intended for the guns were deemed too expensive, with a price tag ranging from $800,00 to $1 million for a single round.</span></p><p><span>The guns will remain on the destroyers, but "in an inactive status for future use, when a gun round that can affordably meet the desired capability is developed and fielded," <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/02/15/its-official-the-navys-new-stealth-destroyers-will-be-ship-killers/#.WoXlqae43u0.twitter">according</a> to budget documents.</span></p><p><span>The Navy was <a href="https://news.usni.org/2017/12/04/navy-refocus-ddg-1000-surface-strike">looking</a> at changing the Zumwalt-class' role from land attack ship to an anti-surface warfare ship last December. The change was motivated by fears of China's increasingly capable navy, and the need for more surface ships capable to dealing killing blows in ship-to-ship combat. </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a8766bbd030724f178b45e8-1100/zumwalt1.jpg" alt="Zumwalt1" data-mce-source="Us Navy" data-mce-caption="The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), left, the Navy's most technologically advanced surface ship, is underway in formation with the littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) on the final leg of its three-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego, December 8, 2016." /><p class="source"><span>Us Navy</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>All three Zumwalt-class destroyers will be based in the Pacific. </span></p><p><span>The new missiles will allow the destroyers to work alongside Littoral Combat Ships, which will soon be getting <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-littoral-combat-ships-criticized-pack-a-punch-2018-1">their own upgrades</a> that will allow them to take on enemy vessels miles away.</span></p><p><span>There are currently two Zumwalt-class destroyers; USS Zumwalt, which is <a href="https://news.usni.org/2016/12/08/destroyer-uss-zumwalt-arrives-san-diego">currently</a> in its homeport of San Diego getting overhauled and a weapons installation, and USS Michael Monsoor, which just <a href="http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=104242">successfully completed</a> its acceptance trials last week.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-might-happen-north-korea-launched-nuclear-weapon-kim-jon-un-donald-trump-twitter-war-2018-1">Here's what might happen if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/jqyLd9M2-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "uss reuben james" and got 4 results

The Nazis were already shooting at US warships months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor

Benjamin Brimelow

The military's 'war for talent' is affecting what the Navy's future ships will look like

Christopher Woody

77 years ago on Halloween, the first US warship sunk by the enemy in World War II was attacked by a Nazi U-boat

Christopher Woody

The Navy's stealth destroyers are getting new missiles that will turn them into long range ship killers

Ben Brimelow