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Wreck of USCGC Tampa, Largest U.S. Naval Loss of WWI, Found Off Cornwall

The confirmation sets up carefully managed research at a newly located gravesite.

Wreckage from the US Coast Guard cutter Tampa, sunk in World War I, is seen 300 feet below the Atlantic off the English coast after being discovered by a team of British divers.
FILE - A view of the United States Coast Guard headquarters building in Washington, June 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
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Overview

  • The Coast Guard, which announced the find Wednesday, confirmed the cutter’s wreck about 50 miles off Newquay at more than 300 feet with help from the British Gasperados dive team.
  • Tampa was torpedoed on September 26, 1918 in the Bristol Channel and sank in under three minutes, killing all 131 aboard.
  • Historians verified the identity using archival images of the ship’s wheel, bell, deck fittings and weapons matched to video from the site.
  • The Coast Guard is developing plans for further exploration using robotics, autonomous systems and specialized dive teams while treating the site as a war grave.
  • The loss included 111 Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy personnel and 16 Britons, and in 1999 the crew received Purple Hearts, including 11 Black sailors recognized as the first minority Coast Guardsmen killed in combat.