Drivers off the southwestern coast of England have reported locating a World War I U.S. Navy ship that was destroyed by a German submarine more than a century ago. The USS Jacob Jones, which was damaged by a torpedo on December 6, 1917 in the English Channel, bears the distinction of being the first U.S. Navy destroyer ever to be lost to enemy action, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) (NHHC).
Sixty-four of the destroyer’s 110 officers and crew perished when the ship went down.
Darkstar, a squad of skilled divers from the U.K., spotted the debris around 400 feet below and 60 miles south of Newlyn, Cornwall, dive team member Steve Mortimer said in a Facebook post.
The crew stated they did not damage the site and had called the U.S. Department of State to warn them of their finding.
The USS Jacob Jones was patrolling off the Virginia coast when war broke out between the United States and Germany on April 6, 1917, according to the NHHC. The ship was ultimately deployed to escort supply convoys around the United Kingdom and would rescue hundreds of survivors of British warships hit by enemy fire — including picking up 305 survivors from the torpedoed British cruiser Orama.
But on December 6, 1917, the ship was damaged by a German torpedo approximately 20 miles east of Start Point, England. According to the NHHC, when the stern sunk, Commander David W. Bagley ordered all life rafts released and the ship abandoned. Eight minutes after being struck by the torpedo, the destroyer sunk with two commanders and 62 crew men remaining aboard.
USS Jacob Jones sinking off the Scilly Islands, England, on 6 December 1917, when she was sunk by the German submarine U-53.
The captain of the assaulting submarine, Kapitan Hans Rose, took two injured survivors prisoner, according to the NHHC’s statement. Meanwhile, two British warships commenced rescue efforts and a total of 39 men were rescued, out of the 103 who had been on board.
Lieutenant Stanton F. Kalk, who was the officer-of-the-deck when the torpedo occurred, demonstrated “exceptional gallantry” in getting soldiers out of the sea and onto life rafts and boats, the NHHC stated. He died of weariness and exposure, and was posthumously awarded the Navy’s Distinguished Service Medal. Two Navy ships were eventually named after Kalk.
Among the 39 survivors, according to the diving crew, was Lt Cdr Norman Scott, who went on to be killed in action in World War II, finally obtaining the Medal of Honor.
Diver Dominic Robinson said the crew had to endure a strong, changing current to discover the remains of the historic cruiser.
“Without certain this is one of the most enjoyable dives I’ve done in a while,” he posted on Facebook. “Identifying a wreck of historical importance is always going to be a fantastic experience but doing it at over 100 metres and so far out at sea enhances it.”
This discovery comes less than two months after a U.S. Navy destroyer escort discovered around 23,000 feet below sea level in the Philippines, making it the deepest wreckage ever discovered.