"While at the site enjoy the sweeping views of Casco Bay were
the
Rueben James had sailed through and also anchored in. It is
an
easily accessible paved trail most of the way. In the winter
there
is ice on the trail and it is pitched fairly steep, so be
careful
and hence the two grade. The area is dog friendly, but please
pick
up after your friend as many before you have not done! Parking
is
available in the Martin’s Point patient parking area a
short
walk away. Obviously don’t park in Doctor/Staff
reserved
parking.
The Reuben James had been stationed in Portland and was
the
first US Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II. The
site
also has granite tablets to the rear listing the 236 Maine
Seafaring men lost in WWII as members of the Navy, Marine
Corps,
and Coast Guard."
Some further info on the USS Rueben James:
During the War with the Barbary Pirates in 1801, Seaman
Reuben
James had blocked with his own body a sword blow aimed at his
commander Stephen Decatur. On a grim morning 140 years later a
US
Navy ship named after him, the U.S.S. Reuben James (DD 245), took
a
German torpedo intended for an ammunition ship in the convoy
she
was shepherding.
Another American destroyer, the Kearney (DD 432), had been
torpedoed a short time before but survived. Both ships were
engaged
in efforts to keep Britain resupplied during a period prior
to
Pearl Harbor when it was not certain when or if the United
States
would enter WWII.
After the Kearney was torpedoed the Rueben James postured
itself
between an ammunition ship and the known position of a German
U-boat Wolfpack. On 31 October 1941, at about 0545 Reuben James
was
torpedoed by German submarine U-552. A torpedo hit her forward
and
the entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow
sank
immediately. The aft section floated for five minutes before
going
down. Of the crew, 44 survived, and 100 died. Reuben James was
the
first US Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II.
After the news of the sinking reached America, many concerned
people wrote letters to the Navy to find out the fate of friends
or
loved ones. Sadly, most of the country ignored the sinking. One
who
did not ignore it was folk singer Woody Guthrie, who wrote the
song
"Reuben James" immediately after the incident, which became
the
first antiwar song of World War II."