USS Reuben James (DD-245)

USS Reuben James (DD-245), a post-World War I four-stack Clemson-class destroyer, was the first United States Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II and the first named for Boatswain's Mate Reuben James (c.1776–1838), who distinguished himself fighting in the  Barbary Wars. Reuben James was laid down on April 2 1919 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, launched on October 4 1919, and commissioned on 24 September 1920 with Commander Gordon W. Hines in command. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, Reuben James saw duty in the Mediterranean Sea from 1921 to 1922. Based then at New York City, she patrolled the Nicaraguan coast to prevent the delivery of weapons to revolutionaries in early 1926. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 20 1931. Recommissioned on March 9 1932, the ship again operated in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, patrolling Cuban waters during the coup by Fulgencio Batista. She transferred to San Diego, California in 1934. Following maneuvers that evaluated aircraft carriers, Reuben James returned to the Atlantic Fleet in January 1939.
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