Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 69

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Reuben James

North Atlantic. More seriously awry is that the opening sequence for the movie
states it is taking place in 1984. The Reuben James was not launched until 1985,
and not commissioned until 1986! Shooting for the movie began April 3, 1989,
and it was released in the United States on March 2,1990, so the writers had plenty
o f opportunity to use another ship’s name. And in a case of error compounded
upon error, reporter Bob Dietrich of the Sand Diego Union Tribune, accompany
ing the real crew of the Reuben James on a goodwill visit to Vladivostok, wrote:
What U.S. Navy leaders may not wish the Soviet hosts to know
is that the Reuben James played the role of a Soviet warship in
the film version of the Tom Clancy novel “The Hunt for Red
October,” which was shot off Southern California last year. Petty
Officer 1st Class Tony Pena was one of 30 crew members who
volunteered to play the roles of Soviet sailors and submitted to
having their heads shaved. (Dietrich)
Actually, the only Soviet ships portrayed in the movie were two Soviet subma
rines, the Red October and the Konovalov.
An additional piece o f cinematic license was taken by the movie produc
ers in that, despite assertions that “The Reuben James is also in the book The Hunt
for Red October and plays a very prominent part in the story” (Pike), the Reuben
James is nowhere mentioned in the Tom Clancy book on which the movie is based.
Today the original Reuben James is but a memory, and as more and more
of the crew from Oct. 31, 1941, pass away, that memory is in danger of being lost
forever. Fortunately, however, on May 30, 1999, a memorial was dedicated at
Martin’s Point, Maine, overlooking Casco Bay, the final U.S. anchorage of the

Reuben James.
On one side of the 6.75 ton granite monument is an engraving o f the ship
with the words, “The first U.S. warship lost in World War II.” Another side in
cludes the names of those who were serving on the ship that day, and at the base
are the words of the “Naval Hymn”:
“Most Holy Spirit Who didst brood upon the chaos dark and rude,
and bid its angry tumult cease, and give for wild confusion peace,
oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea.”
Thus, Reuben James the man, Reuben James the ship, and “Reuben James”
the song continue to be a part of an American tradition in which songs, comprised
of music and words, play such a prominent role.
Middle Tennessee State University

Larry L. Burriss