British divers have located the wreck of the USS Jacob Jones in over 100 meters of water, 40 miles off the Isles of Scilly. The ship, a Tucker Class destroyer, was sunk during World War I by a German U-boat on December 6, 1917. USS Jacob Jones was the first US destroyer ever to be lost to enemy action and went down in 8 minutes. 64 of her crew of 110 were lost in the attack.
As recounted by the Naval History and Heritage Command: Approximately one month after the United States declared war on Germany, the destroyer steamed to Queenstown [Cobh], Ireland, under Lieutenant Commander David W. Bagley with Division Seven of the Destroyer Force, the second group of destroyers to enter the war zone. Arriving at the British base on 17 May 1917, Jacob Jones operated out of Queenstown, patrolling the U-boat-infested western approaches to the British Isles. Later, as the Entente Powers instituted a worldwide convoy system, the destroyer escorted inbound and outbound convoys through the submarine danger zone.
On 6 December 1917, Jacob Jones handed over a convoy off of Brest, France, and steamed with fellow convoy escorts for Queenstown. That afternoon Jacob Jones fell behind her compatriots to hold target practice approximately 40 miles south of the Isles of Scilly, a small island chain west of England and south of Ireland. Two miles away U-53, under Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, detected the sound of gunfire and closed to investigate.
At approximately 1530 on 6 December 1917, Rose spotted Jacob Jones. U-53 submerged and prepared to attack. The U-boat stalked the destroyer unseen, closing from approximately three miles to 1,000 meters, and Rose ordered its strongest, fastest torpedo readied to fire. The German commanding officer lined up the American ship and at 1620 fired the single torpedo from U-53’s bow tube before taking his boat below.
With a violent explosion, the torpedo struck the destroyer three feet below the waterline in the fuel oil tank between the auxiliary room and the after crew space. Many men died in the blast, especially in the aft living quarters and firerooms, and compartments immediately took on frigid water from the winter sea. The shock of the explosion threw several of the crew against the bulkheads and overheads, causing widespread injuries and rendering several of the crew dazed or unconscious. On impact, the ship began to settle to the aft with the stern almost immediately submerging.
In the short eight minutes it took Jacob Jones to sink, the crew freed three inflatable Carley floats, a balsa-style catamaran raft, a motor dory, a whaleboat, a wherry, and other buoyant and life-saving materials.
Lieutenant Commander Bagley focused his efforts on sending out a distress signal to nearby naval forces. The explosion carried away the vessel’s mainmast and the radio antenna and the ship lost electric power, rendering the set unusable. The vessel was unable to send a distress signal. As the destroyer entered its last seconds, the No. 4 gun fired two rounds in a final effort to alert friendly vessels nearby. Lieutenant Commander Bagley, left with no other option, walked the starboard rail giving the command “All hands overboard.”
At 1629, only eight minutes after being torpedoed, the bow of the destroyer swung upward, twisting 180 degrees in the process, and paused nearly upright before Jacob Jones plunged below, stern first.
At approximately 1645, as the Americans struggled to survive the ordeal and save their shipmates, U-53 surfaced and cruised through the mass of survivors. Rose brought Seaman Second Class Albert De Mello and Seaman First Class John F. Murphy on board before submerging. De Mello was taken below to the cramped confines of the German boat and noticed the wireless operator transmitting a message. He asked if Kapitänleutnant Rose was notifying his sister ships of his victory. Rose responded, “No, I am sending an S.O.S to Land’s End [England] for the remainder of your shipmates as I have no more room for more of you aboard [sic].”
Despite Rose’s attempt to provide assistance, Anglo-American naval forces did not act on the transmission. U-53 submerged and departed the scene of the sinking, eventually returning to Heligoland, Germany, with the prisoners on 12 December. The Imperial German Army interned Murphy and De Mello as prisoners of war in Brandenburg, Germany. They both safely returned to the United States after the 11 November 1918 armistice.
Ultimately, the Americans’ British allies were responsible for the rescue of Jacob Jones survivors. A tramp British merchant steamer Catalina located a Carley float at approximately 2100 on 6 December, and rescued the six crewmembers on board. Catalina radioed for assistance and its transmission, rather than U-53’s, spurred the Anglo-American allies to respond to the sinking.
Queenstown dispatched several warships to locate the remaining life vessels. After daybreak on 7 December, the main group of survivors spotted smoke on the horizon. The British sloop Camellia reached the balsa raft and the attached Carley float at 0900, thereby rescuing the largest group of survivors. Thirty minutes later, the British warship located more crewmembers on another float 600 yards away and took them on board. At 1300 on the same day, a British patrol boat fifteen miles south of the Isles of Scilly recovered Lieutenant Commander Bagley and the final group of survivors in the motor dory. In all, of the 110 members of Jacob Jones crew, 46 survived, including the two men captured by U-53.
British divers find a US shipwreck from WW1 which has been missing since 1917
Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.