Divers find missing wreck of the biggest US Navy loss of World War One more than a century later
The wreckage of the biggest U.S. Naval loss of World War I has been discovered by a team of British divers after 107 years.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was discovered around 50 miles off the coast of Newquay, a seaside town in south west England, after being lost in 1918.
All 131 people aboard the vessel were killed as it sank, with the tragedy representing the largest single American naval combat loss of life in WW1.
“When the Tampa was lost with all hands in 1918, it left an enduring grief in our service,” Admiral Kevin Lunday, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a press release. “Locating the wreck connects us to their sacrifice and reminds us that devotion to duty endures.”
open image in galleryA team of British divers have located the wreckage of the biggest US naval loss from World War One (US Coast Guard/Gasperados)The discovery of the Tampa is the culmination of three years of collaboration between the Coast Guard Historian’s Office and a group of British di..
