The wreckage of the USS Jacob Jones, a Tucker-class destroyer, and the first ship of its kind to be sunk by enemy fire, was recently discovered off the southwest coast of England by a group of UK diving experts.
The WWI destroyer was hit Dec. 6, 1917, by a German torpedo, killing 64 of the 110 officers and crew onboard, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.
Over 100 years later, a group of diving experts from the UK discovered the ship’s wreckage about 400 feet underwater and roughly 60 miles south of Newlyn, England, according to an Aug. 11 Facebook post from Steve Mortimer, one of the divers and the group’s research lead.
“We found the Jacob Jones, the first U.S. destroyer to be sunk, ever, and the first major casualty for the U.S. Navy-wise in WWI. It’s an incredible achievement,” Will Schwarz, 39, another one of the divers, said in an interview with Military Times.
