Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 59

55

Reuben James

to bum the U.S.S. Philadelphia after its capture by pirates at Tripoli. The ship had
run aground, and Boatswain’s Mate Reuben James, among others, entered the har
bor under cover of darkness and boarded the ship to prevent its use by the pirates.
They were met by a number of pirates, and James was wounded in the battle.
Nevertheless, when one of the pirates was about to kill Decatur, James stepped
between the two and took the sword-blow intended for his commander.
James recovered from his injuries, and went on to serve in the Navy until
he was forced to retire because of declining health brought on by his wounds, in
January 1836. He died at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3,
1838.
As for the ship that would bear his name (the history and details of the
sinking of the U.S.S. Reuben James is documented in numerous sources, includ
ing, Pike; Clancy; Topp, 1-5), work on the U.S.S. Reuben James was begun when
the keel was laid down on April 2, 1919 at the New York Ship Building Corp. The
ship was launched on Oct. 4, 1919, and commissioned on Sept. 24, 1920. Cmdr.
Gordon W. Hines was the first commander.
The basic description of the Reuben James varies from source to source,
and these dimensions and details are outlined in the table below:

Ships of the
U.S. Navy
Class
Displacement
Length
Beam
Draft
Speed
Armament
Machinery
Complement

Dictionary of American
NavalFighting Ships

Clemson
1,190 tons
314’ 4 ”

314’ 5”

3 r 8”
3 0 ’ 8”
14' 1”
9 ’ 3”
35 knots
4 4 ”/50, 1 3”/23, 12x3 21” torpedo tubes
Twin screws, geared turbine engines, 27,000 horsepower
149
| 101 or 144 (both numbers listed)

(Information gathered from: http://www.ibiblo.org/hyperwar.
USN/ships/DD/DD-245_ReubenJames.html and
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/DD/dd245/html)

The Reuben James was first assigned to the Atlantic fleet, and then sta
tioned in the Mediterranean in 1921 and 1922. She returned to New York, and was
then sent to patrol along the coast of Nicaragua to interdict weapons shipments in
1926. She eventually went to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on
Jan. 20, 1931.