War Grave Protected

Ships Bell, USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)

Relic Recovered from U.S. Destroyer Lost in WWI

JOHN GRADY

The bell of the USS Jacob Jones (DD-61), the only American destroyer sunk during World War I, has been recovered by a special salvage unit with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense at the request of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.

The command asked for assistance from the ministry’s Salvage and Marine Operations unit “due to the risk of unauthorized and illegal salvaging,” retired Rear Adm. Sam Cox said in a statement. The shipwreck itself was first discovered off the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern coast of England, in August 2022.

The U.K. unit has used a remotely operated vehicle to survey the site for long-term preservation and protection since the wreck’s discovery, NHHC said in a news release.

“The wreck of the ship is a hallowed war grave and is the last resting places for many of the 64 men who were lost in the sinking,” Cox said.

“Jacob Jones, a Tucker-class thousand tonner, was torpedoed on Dec. 6, 1917,” while returning to Queenstown, Ireland, after handing off a convoy near Brest, France, naval historian William Still wrote in his “Crisis at Sea” account of the U.S. Navy in Europe during the war.

USNI

The U-Boat captain who fired the torpedo, Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, picked up two survivors and sent an SOS to mark the site for rescue.

Category: Historical, Navy, We Remember