WASHINGTON, D.C.—According to a U.S. Naval Institute News report, the bell of the USS Jacob Jones (DD-61), an American destroyer built in New York in 1916 and sunk off the Isles of Scilly during World War I, has been recovered by a salvage unit with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, Salvage and Marine Operations. The ship was one of six Tucker class destroyers, the first U.S. destroyers to displace more than 1,000 tons. The Jacob Jones was sent to Queenstown, Ireland, to protect the western approaches to the United Kingdom and France from U-boat attacks in May of 1917. The vessel was torpedoed by a U-boat on December 6, 1917, while returning to Queenstown after handing off a convoy near France, and sank in about eight minutes. Rear Admiral Sam Cox of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command explained that the bell was recovered due to the risk of looting of the shipwreck site, which was discovered in 2022. “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. To read about the underwater archaeology of the attack on Pearl Harbor, go to "December 7, 1941."
