Evening star., 1941-11-04
y. S. Navy Tanker Torpedoed
Near Iceland, but Reaches Port
Badly Damaged; Crew Is Sofe
81 Died on james:
Bomber Crashes at
Sea, Killing II

Torpedoing of a third naval YES
Sci, big tanker which reached port
without loss Of life, was announced
by the Navy Department today as
sea and air casualty lists from the
grim battle of the Atlantic mounted.
A.terse accounting for the 81 men
believed lost when the destroyer
Reuben James was torpedoed and
sunk Thursday night preceded news
that the tanker Salinas had been
torpedoed Wednesday night and that
three officers and nine enlisted men
had died in the crash of huge pa
troll bomber somewhere at sea. The
bomber had been missing since
Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the Navy revealed
that so new-type escort vessels"
designed to protect conveys from
submarines and bombers will be
built for Great Britain. The State
Department earlier had disclosed
that Germany had refused even to
reply to a demand for $4,000, 900
damages in the sinking of the
freighter Robin Moor by a subma-
rine in the South Atlantic May 81.
Tanker Seriously Damaged.
The Salinas. skippered by Comdr
Harley F. Cope, recently on duty
here in the Office of the Chief of
Naval Operations, was torpedoed
without warning while in convoy
southwest of Iceland a day before
the sinking of the Reuben James in
the same general vicinity. The
Is 6,800-ton naval tanker, with her
complement of LOT men, reached
port in safety despite serious dam
age incurred"
News of the attack was withheld
until the vessel docked, and the
Navy announced no details of the
damage will be released as they
would be Of mo value except to the
Nazis." The ship was built at New
port News and transferred to the
Navy In 1921. It mounts two s.
inch guns and battery of anti
aircraft guns and has a length Of
1853 feet.
The fact the Salinas remained
af1oat even though torpedoed and
seriously damaged caused no sur
prise among naval officers. Nor were
they amazed to learn that Of the
men aboard none had been killed or
even seriously Injured.
Vessels Are Rugged.
These authorities said that any big
tanker was capable of receiving one
torpedo hit and probably two or
more without sinking. The rugged
ness Of such vessels In this regard
was described as due to their divi-
sion into tanks for ease in carrying
oil
Crew and officer quarters aboard
tankers Of the Salinas class are To-
Gated we'll forward and astern. The
engine and boiler rooms are astern
The rest of the ship is given over
to oil tanks.
AS q result of this division into
tanks, a tanker has what must be
bought at great expense in regular
fighting ships-compartmentation.
It was compartmentation which
helped save the new destroyer
Kearny when a torpedo crasked it
open amidships.
In the case of the Salinas. the
torpedo might have hit anywhere
from near the bow to aft of mid
ships without doing anything more
than blowing hoe in the side of
the hull and letting the water rush
into tank while the oil, assuming
the tanker was loaded, rushed out.
Oil Might Not Be Total Loss.
The spilling of this oil, incident
ally, might not be a total loss if the
seas happened to be disturbed. The
figure of speech, Ito pour oil on
troubled waters" mas a sound basis
in experience. The oil works to
prevent the wind from blowing
waves to greater violence.
The attacks on American vessels
IN the Atlantic stirred increasing
resentment at the Capitol, where re-
peal of vital sections of the Neutral
ity Act is under debate in the Sen
ate.
The Reuben James heavy losses
shocked the Capital, which has been
waiting anxiously since Friday for
news, but the Navy indicated it did
not expect the total to diminish.
THE Navy Department" a COM
munique stated, holds little hope
for the rescue of the 7 officers
and SO enlisted men who have not
yet been accounted for"
OF those accounted Off, two were
dead. The body of one was recov-
cred from the sea after the Reuben
James went down somewhere west |
e6 Icala.ad ha eaf