Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 62

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Popular Culture Review

The blast blew him out of the water, but he fell back under again, and a second
depth charge exploded under him. He was eventually rescued with minor injuries.
The exploding depth charges, however, did more harm than good. Said survivor
George F. Giehrl, “If it hadn’t been for those depth charges, we probably would
have had another 40 or 50 survivors. Some were knocked unconscious. Others
were tom apart” (quoted in Ringle).
Other fatalities resulted when blast from the torpedo and exploding maga
zine destroyed the ship’s two lifeboats. As a result, only three balsa rafts remained
for the survivors to cling to. William N. Bergstrasse also survived the carnage:
I had just come off watch, out of the engine room, and that is
why I’m alive, I guess. I was aft — and then, I was in the water.
I know I got picked up pretty quick. It would of had to be quick.
The water was so cold it would kill you in no time. But it didn’t
seem quick. It seemed like a long time (quoted in Thackrey).
Crewman R.J. Carr, who was slightly injured in the attack, said “the Rube”
sacrificed herself, just like James did in the Barbary Wars:
No chance at all the Germans fired that torpedo at the Reuben
James. It was aimed at one of the freighters or tankers — they’d
never waste a fish on a tin can like the old Rube. She took a
blow that was aimed at someone else . . . just like her name
sake! (quoted in Thackrey).
Others, however, say the Reuben James was, in fact, the target: “Topp
simultaneously attacked one of the destroyers with two torpedoes and got off a
contact report. Topp’s target was the four-stack destroyer Reuben James....” (Blair,
1996, p. 375). Topp himself said, “ ...in the dawn hours of October 31, 1941, I
attacked and sank an escort vessel out of a British convoy” (Topp, 3).
Despite the sinking, many in the United States downplayed the incident:
President Roosevelt said it would not result in any policy changes vis-a-vis Ger
many. Others put an optimistic face on the sinking: “[I]n view of the system of
naval operation, it is probable that other destroyers were on the scene . . . and there
is at least an even chance that the submarine which won this victory did not long
survive it” (Hurd).
Q