British Divers Locate Wreck of First US Destroyer Sunk by Enemy Fire - Photos

11:48 GMT, 21 August 2022

Sofia Chegodaeva

In 1917, the Jacob Jones was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine the U-53, becoming the first US destroyer that went to the bottom as a result of enemy action.

Sputnik

A team of British divers has announced that they have identified the wreckage of the USS Jacob Jones destroyer, more than 100 years after it was sunk by enemy fire.

“We are thrilled to announce that we have identified the wreck of USS Jacob Jones, the first U.S destroyer to be sunk by enemy action,” Steve Mortimer, one of the divers in the expedition, reportedly wrote on Facebook*.

Photos showing part of the shipwreck as well as old pictures of the destroyer and its team are available online.

Shipwreck of WW I destroyer located

The wreckage was found at a depth of 120 meters about 60 nautical miles south of Newlyn in Cornwall, England. On December 6, 1917, the Tucker-class destroyer was struck by a torpedo fired by German submarine the U-53. It sank within a few minutes, leaving 66 men out of the 110-member crew dead.

Jacob Jones was a Tucker-class destroyer commissioned into the US Navy in 1916. It was sailing from a US base in Ireland and was mainly involved in patrols, convoy escorts, and rescue operations.

*Activity of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is banned in Russia over extremism.