Divers find wreck of iconic U.S. ship torpedoed in WWI, killing 131 on board: "Their final resting place is known at last"
CBS News • • nation
Key Points:
- The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, a U.S. military ship sunk by a German submarine in 1918 during World War I, has been discovered off the coast of Cornwall, Britain, more than a century after it was lost.
- The Tampa sank in the Bristol Channel after being torpedoed by the German submarine UB-91, resulting in the deaths of all 131 personnel aboard, marking the largest loss of life on a U.S. combat ship during the war.
- The British diving team Gasperados located the wreck at a depth of over 300 feet after a three-year search, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, which provided archival information to aid the discovery.
- The Coast Guard plans to conduct further underwater research and exploration of the shipwreck using robotics and autonomous systems to honor the sacrifice of those who perished.
- This discovery adds to recent findings of World War I shipwrecks globally, including multiple German-torpedoed vessels off Morocco and the HMS Hawke off Scotland.
