USS Kearny in the Midwatch

On 17 October 1941, USS Kearny (DD-432) was drawn into the fight around Convoy SC 48, about 400 miles south of Iceland. The United States had not entered the war. Kearny had been serving on North Atlantic convoy duty, and she was among four American destroyers summoned to help after German U-boats attacked the convoy and overwhelmed its Canadian escorts. Lieutenant Commander Anthony L. Danis was in command.

The destroyer had already spent the night dropping depth charges. During the midwatch, U-568, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Joachim Preuss, spotted Kearny. Shortly after midnight, the submarine fired a spread of four torpedoes. One struck the starboard side, hitting the No. 1 fire room and knocking out the ship’s power. The German crew thought they had seen Kearny break in two. They had not.

Kearny’s crew fought through the morning to restore power and keep the ship afloat. The flooding was confined to the forward fire room, and the destroyer managed to leave the danger area. She steamed toward Iceland at 10 knots and reached Iceland on 19 October. Eleven sailors were killed and 22 wounded, eight of them seriously. They were the first American servicemen killed by German action in the war, though the United States remained officially neutral.

The immediate task was keeping Kearny alive and getting her to harbor; the longer repair job could wait. After temporary repairs, she left Iceland on Christmas Day and reached Boston six days later for permanent work. The attack had damaged one destroyer and killed eleven of her crew, but it did not sink her. For a country still outside the war, the distinction between neutrality and combat had become unusually literal: Kearny had been on convoy duty, had fought off submarines with depth charges, and had taken a torpedo from U-568 before she could return to port.