Drivers have reported discovering a World War I American Navy destroyer that was sunk by a German submarine more than a century ago off the southwest coast of England.
According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, the USS Jacob Jones, which was torpedoed on December 6, 1917, in the English Channel, holds the distinction of being the first U.S. Navy destroyer ever to be lost to enemy action (NHHC).
Of the destroyer’s 110 officers and crew, 64 perished with the ship.
Diver Steve Mortimer wrote on Facebook that the wreckage was found by Darkstar, a team of experienced British divers, about 400 feet underwater and 60 miles south of Newlyn, Cornwall.
In order to inform the U.S. Department of State of their discovery, the team claimed that they did not disturb the site.
According to the NHHC, the USS Jacob Jones was on patrol off the coast of Virginia on April 6, 1917, when hostilities between the United States and Germany began.
The ship was eventually sent out to guard supply convoys passing through the UK, where it would save countless British warship survivors, including 305 from the torpedoed British cruiser Orama.
However, a German torpedo struck the ship on December 6, 1917, about 20 miles east of Start Point, England.
According to the NHHC, Commander David W. Bagley gave the order to launch all life rafts and abandon ship as the stern sank.
The destroyer sank with two officers and 62 crew members still inside eight minutes after the torpedo struck.
According to the NHHC, Kapitan Hans Rose, the attacking submarine’s commander, kidnapped two injured survivors.
Out of the 103 people on board, 39 men were ultimately saved as a result of rescue operations carried out by two British warships.
In assisting men out of the water and into life rafts and boats, Lieutenant Stanton F. Kalk, who was the officer-of-the-deck when the torpedo struck, showed “extraordinary heroism,” according to the NHHC.
He received the Navy’s Distinguished Service Medal posthumously and passed away from exhaustion and exposure. Two Navy destroyers were later named after Kalk.
According to the dive team, Lt Cdr. Norman Scott, who later died in action during World War II and received the Medal of Honor, was one of the 39 survivors.
In order to successfully locate the wreckage of the renowned warship, diver Dominic Robinson claimed that the team had to battle a strong, erratic current.
He posted on Facebook, “Without a doubt, this is one of the most satisfying dives I’ve done in a while.”
Finding a wreck with historical significance is always going to be an amazing experience, but doing it at a depth of more than 100 metres and so far out at sea only amplifies that.
The discovery comes less than two months after the world’s deepest shipwreck, a U.S. Navy destroyer escort from World War II that was discovered off the Philippines at a depth of about 23,000 feet.