Pearl Harbor Day - Remember the USS Ward

[Gutshot John]

The USS Ward fired the first American shots of the war on a Japanese Midget Submarine, putting a deck gun round right through the conning tower and sending it to the bottom.

For 60 years the report of the USS Ward was disputed until a team of underwater archaeologists discovered the submarine on the bottom, with a neat hole punched through the conning tower.

http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/Pearl/ph97.htm

It's neat how history gets rewritten occasionally.

[Submariner]

BZ to officers and crew of USS Aaron Ward; nevertheless, FDR had us engaged in hostilities long before Pearl Harbor.

The first time Americans engaged in hostile action after September 1, 1939 was on April 10, 1941, when the destroyer USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat that had just sunk a Dutch freighter. The Niblack was picking up survivors of the freighter when it detected the U-boat preparing to attack. The Niblack attacked with depth charges and drove off the U-boat. There were no casualties onboard the Niblack or the U-boat.

One could argue that either the casualties inflicted on USS Kearny by U-boat U-568 on October 17, 1941 or the sinking of the USS Reuben James by U-552 on October 31, 1941 might be considered the first American losses of World War II. However, the United States was neither directly involved in the war at the time nor did the incidents cause them to declare war [sic]. By coincidence, the Niblack was in the same convoy as the Reuben James when the Reuben James was sunk and picked up survivors from the Reuben James.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_American_shots_fired_in_World_War_II

[SteyrAUG]

Yep. In 1940 tourists used to watch U Boats sink US shipping off of Miami Beach at night because the city refused to black out for fear of losing tourists. This means our ships were nicely silhouetted against the neon at night.

Must have been completely surreal to see US lives lost and have a President vowing to "keep us out of the war."

If only we had Teddy rather than Franklin as President.