Greer incident
The Greer incident refers to a confrontation involving the USS Greer, an American destroyer, during World War II. While on a mission to deliver supplies to Marines in Iceland, the Greer tracked a German U-boat after receiving a report from a British pilot. The situation escalated when the U-boat fired a torpedo at the Greer, which then retaliated with depth charges. This exchange of fire marked a significant moment as it prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to publicly characterize the U-boat's actions as piracy, claiming it threatened freedom of the seas.
In the aftermath, Roosevelt announced an extension of U.S. naval escorts for merchant ships and issued orders for engagement against German and Italian vessels in the Atlantic. This approach was met with mixed reactions; while many supported the president's stance, isolationist critics accused him of manipulating the incident to draw the U.S. closer to war. They highlighted discrepancies in Roosevelt's account, particularly regarding the nature of the Greer's actions and the attack. Ultimately, the incident played a critical role in the U.S. government's shift towards military involvement in the ongoing conflict, despite ongoing debates about the nation's role in the war.
Greer incident
The Event First incident in which a U.S. warship engaged a German submarine, shortly before American entry into World War II.
Date September 4, 1941
Place En route to Iceland
The incident helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt adopt measures to ensure the delivery of Lend-Lease supplies to Great Britain, but in doing so the United States became involved in an undeclared naval war with Germany in late 1941.
The USS Greer, an American destroyer, was en route to Iceland with mail and supplies for a small Marine garrison posted there when it received reports from a British pilot of a German U-boat spotted ten miles ahead. The Greer tracked the German submarine for over three hours, notifying British aircraft overhead of its location. When British pilots tried to sink it by using depth charges, the German U-boat fired a torpedo at the Greer. The Greer retaliated with several depth charges. Two hours later, the two warships again exchanged fire before the Greer proceeded to Iceland.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt told the American public that a German submarine had fired on the Greer in a deliberate attempt to sink it. He described the attack as an act of piracy, part of a Nazi attempt to eliminate freedom of the seas and dominate the Western Hemisphere. He then announced the extension of U.S. naval escort service for merchant ships of any flag as far as Iceland. He also issued a “shoot on sight” order against German and Italian vessels operating within the American security zone in the Atlantic.
Despite favorable public reaction to the president’s speech, isolationists accused Roosevelt of trying to maneuver an unwilling country into war. They noted several discrepancies in the president’s version of the incident: He had failed to disclose that the Greer was a U.S. warship, that it had prompted the attack by tracking the German submarine, and that it had not been hit by German torpedoes. The isolationists could not stop Roosevelt from extending U.S. naval escorts of Lend-Lease supplies to Great Britain, but the president, seeing that Adolf Hitler had not been baited into a shooting war in the Atlantic, and recalling the opposition of isolationists in the recent vote to renew the Selective Service Act of 1940, did not ask Congress for a declaration of war.
Impact
In his attempt to use the incident to justify taking the United States into a full-blown war, Roosevelt misled the public by suggesting that Germany posed a direct threat to American security and had to be defeated by military intervention in the war. Consequently, he left himself open to charges of deceit.
Bibliography
Langer, William L., and S. Everett Gleason. The Undeclared War, 1940-1941. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939-May 1943. Boston: Little, Brown, 1947.