Kearny Incident
While Kearny was docked at U.S.-occupied Reykjavík before the America's formal entry into World War II, she was summoned with three other U.S. destroyers to assist a beleaguered convoy whose Canadian escorts were being overwhelmed. A U-Boat wolfpack was tearing the convoy apart. Kearny immediately began dropping depth charges on the German U-Boats and continued to barrage throughout the night. At the beginning of the midwatch 17 October, a torpedo fired by U-568 struck Kearny on the starboard side. The crew confined flooding to the forward fire room, enabling the ship to get out of the danger zone with power from the aft engine and fire room. Regaining power in the forward engine room, Kearny steamed to Iceland at 10 knots (20 km/h), arriving 19 October. Kearny lost 11 men, and 22 others were injured in this attack. After temporary repairs Kearny got underway Christmas Day 1941, and moored six days later at Boston, Massachusetts, for permanent repairs.
The survival of Kearny led to renewed support for split fire rooms and engine rooms in military craft.
Read more about this topic: USS Kearny (DD-432)
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