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U.S. Ship Sunk by Germans in 1917 Is Found Off English Coast


The wreck of the first US Navy destroyer lost to enemy action has been found off the southwest coast of England, 105 years after it was sunk by a German submarine.

A team of British divers announced the discovery on Facebook last weeksaid it was emotional to locate the World War I ship, the USS Jacob Jones, about 60 nautical miles south of Newlyn, a fishing port in Cornwall.

Rick Ayrton, a retired dentist and one of six divers on the expedition, said that when he reached the ship, which was nearly 400 feet (120 meters) below the water’s surface, he could see the gun stand on the deck. . of the ship, an indication that it was a warship, not a cargo ship.

Ayrton later found its rusty bell, lying in the mud on the side of the ship. He turned it upright, and when he put the name “Jacob” on its face, divers knew they had the right ship, which had been named for a U.S. Navy officer in the early 19th century.

Mr Ayrton, who lives near Bristol, England, said: “We went through our breathing apparatus, and we shook hands. After about 20 minutes of exploring the 260-foot shipwreck, the divers returned to the ocean’s surface, which took about three hours.

Mark Dixon, leader of a diving team called Darkstar, said team members were elated when the shipwreck was found on August 11. “It was like a football team or a baseball team that just won the ship. That’s it,” he said. (Just the day before, he noted, the group had dashed to another target that turned out to be another shipwreck.)

The waters off England are filled with thousands of shipwrecks. However, finding specific ships can be particularly difficult and risky, with some being several hundred meters below the surface of the ocean, like the USS Jacob Jones.

More than a century ago, in 1917, after the United States entered World War I against Germany, the Jacob Jones left Boston for Ireland, where it carried out rescue operations, picking up survivors from steamships. Britain was rammed by a German submarine and escorted convoys through dangerous waters.

On December 6, 1917, the warship left Brest, France, for Queenstown, Ireland, according to US naval records. About 20 miles off the southern coast of England, a German submarine torpedoed the Jacob Jones, bursting its fuel oil tank. There were seven officers and 103 crew members on board at the time of the attack. Eight minutes later, the ship sank and 64 men lost their lives. Some people survived, helped by Lieutenant jg to get on rafts and lifeboats Stanton F. Kalkwas able to escape, although Kalk died of exhaustion and exposure.

When the warship sank, the attack ship’s captain, U-53, radioed back to the US base at Queenstown with approximate location.

Mr Ayrton said out of respect for the ship and those who died on it, diving team members locating the wreck did not remove anything from the scene. “For all our excitement and adventure now, they fought a life-or-death struggle over a hundred years ago,” he said. Darkstar is in contact with the US Embassy in London and United States Naval History and Heritage Command.

Among the first steps in trying to locate the Jacob Jones was to study the records of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France to find out where the ship is most likely. Witness reports are often inaccurate, Mr. Dixon said.

“Usually the sinking positions are really difficult,” as survivors worry about getting into lifeboats, not recording their exact positions, he said.

The diving team members consulted with Michael Lowrey, a naval historian and assistant professor of economics in Charlotte, NC, who translated reports by the German submarine commander, Hans Rose. , write, including the location of the attack and a description of what happened. The researchers examined British and American archives, looked at decades of sonar surveys of the seabed, and looked for anomalies that could indicate shipwrecks.

“It’s really a big deal,” said naval historian Mr. Lowrey. “The US Navy entered World War I late, and they didn’t lose many large ships. One destroyer they lost in battle was the Jacob Jones. “

After the discovery, the Darkstar diving team celebrated with crab salad and beer at the Red Lion Inn, a pub in Cornwall, and planned their next adventure. Among the targets: HMS Nottingham, a British ship sunk by a German submarine in 1916. Darkstar attempted to find it 19 times.

“In the end it will be one,” said Mr Ayrton, “and it will appear.”



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