DESTROYER USS KEARNY TORPEDOED NEAR ICELAND

Destroyer USS Kearny torpedoed near Iceland

Even before a formal declaration of war against Germany, the United States Navy was escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, confronting the realities of submarine warfare. On October 17th, 1941, the destroyer USS Kearny was hit by a German torpedo while responding to an attack on merchant ships near Iceland. The blast tore into the hull, killed sailors, and forced the crew into a desperate struggle to save their ship in cold, stormy seas. Kearny survived and managed to reach port, but the incident made clear to the American public that naval forces were already fighting and dying in defense of Atlantic supply lines. The attack helped harden attitudes toward Germany and foreshadowed the still more intense Battle of the Atlantic that would follow once the United States formally entered the war.