JAMES M. BELDEN, II, LTJG, USNR

James Belden, II '36

Date of birth: October 28, 1911

Date of death: October 31, 1941

Age: 30

Naval Academy Register

James Mead Belden was admitted to the Naval Academy from New York on July 7, 1931 at age 19 years 8 months.

Photographs

Lucky Bag

James is listed in the 1936 Lucky Bag on the "Interrupted Voyage" page for Youngster year.

Loss

James was lost when USS Reuben James (DD 245) was sunk by a torpedo attack from German submarine U-552 near Iceland on October 31, 1941.

Other Information

From Naval History and Heritage Command:

Lt. Cmdr. Edwards, who had been in the emergency cabin, soon arrived in his bathrobe and told Yeoman 3rd Class Dennis H. Howard, to try and pick up the contact on the port quarter, and told Lt. j.g. James M. Belden, USNR, the officer-of-the-deck, to "come left." Howard immediately began "pinging" with the sound machine to pick up the contact. Edwards then told Belden that he was going below to get dressed. Appleton heard someone call down to the wardroom to summon Lt. Benjamin Ghetzler, the executive officer. Belden, writing up the radio report, asked Appleton for the time. Looking at the bridge clock, he responded: "0549." Tex Edwards left the bridge, and Belden stepped toward the helmsman, most likely to give him the order to swing Reuben James to port. It was an order, however, that he would not give.
At roughly that moment, a torpedo from the German submarine U-552, with 27-year old Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp, commanding, less than a week out of St. Nazaire, France, on her sixth war patrol, punched into Reuben James’s port side, roughly below the after end of the bridge. The explosion hurled Appleton from his feet. His head hit the overhead, he then bounced off the after bulkhead, toward the wheel. He had no sooner grabbed the helm when the second torpedo from Topp’s U-boat struck, projecting the Sailor upward through a hole in the overhead. He landed in the water near the bow, and soon found himself being pulled down by the suction, struggling mightily to reach the surface. Ultimately, the Appleton brothers would survive the horrible ordeal as would 43 of their shipmates and the solitary passenger. Tex Edwards did not, however. He went down with his ship and 99 other Sailors.

From the Class of 1936's Golden Lucky Bag, published in 1986:

Jim began his naval career with the Class of 1935 in July 1931. Turned back to the Class of 1936 after a year at the Academy, he battled the "Gods of 2.5" for two years before resigning and joining the Naval Reserve where he won his commission as an Ensign in April 1935, thus getting a leg up on his former classmates.
Jim was a "gungho" Reservist and served on active duty regularly every year, going to sea in Tattnall in 1935; in Wyoming in 1936; and in Badger in 1937; in Arkansas in 1938; and in Quincy in 1939. In 1940 he reported for active duty under instruction at the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, after which he joined the old four-piper Buchanan for a full time assignment. In late September 1940 he was transferred to another venerable convoy escort, Reuben James. Promoted to Lt. (ig) in early 1941, he continued on in the rugged North Atlantic shuttle throughout that year.
On 31 October 1941, Reuben James was one of five U.S. escorts in a convoy 600 miles west of Ireland. At dawn, as Reuben James changed course to investigate unknown radio transmissions, the ship was hit by a torpedo on the port side near number 1 stack. A tremendous explosion blew the forward part of the ship to bits, evidence that the torpedo hit the forward magazine. Five minutes later the stern half of the ship also sank. Of the ship's company of 160, 115 were lost including Jim and all of his fellow officers. Forty-five men were picked up by the destroyers Niblack and Hilary P. Jones.
Jim is remembered as a tall, husky midshipman who made friends quickly. He loved the Navy and was happy serving in his dangerous assignment. He, with his ship-mate, Jack Daub, were the first of the class to give up their lives in combat with the enemy.

James has a memory marker in New York.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together, or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.