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The discovery of USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) - full dive footage
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Apr 22, 2025
The USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) was torpedoed by the German submarine U-53 on 6 December 1917 with the loss of 66 lives becoming the first ever American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action. Famously the u-boat skipper, Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, surfaced and radioed for help which significantly reduced the loss of life Many people have tried to find the wreck but I was fortunate enough to be part of the team in 2022, diving from Darkstar, that found it 40 miles SW of the Isles of Scilly. In 115 metres (380 feet) of water and challenging tidal conditions, we located the ship's bell and were able to make a positive identification. Subsequently the Royal Navy, on behalf of the US Navy, recovered the bell and it is now on it's way to a museum *Links* USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) on wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jacob_Jones_(DD-61) Rick Ayrton on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rick.ayrton.1 *Highlights* 00:00 Introduction 03:48 The bell of the Jacob Jones 08:00 Torpedo tubes and the bent prop 11:13 Lieutenant (JG) Stanton Kalk, Distinguished Service Medal 13:27 Stunning photos of the Jacob Jones (DD-61) 15:15 Four inch guns! 16:35 Darkstar - famous Diver Support Vessel 17:50 Gravity returns
View Video Transcript
0:00
finding This ship's Bell in 115 MERS of
0:04
water was a culmination of years of
0:07
effort as soon as we saw the name Jacob
0:10
on it we knew that we'd found the United
0:13
States ship Jacob Jones Lost since
0:17
December
0:19
1917 torpedoed by the famous German
0:22
NewBo Skipper Hans Rose it was the first
0:26
ever American Destroyer to be sunk by
0:28
enemy action 64 men lost their lives in
0:32
the freezing Waters and are now
0:35
commemorated at the Brookwood American
0:38
Memorial the wreck is located 40 Mi
0:42
Southwest of the Isles of silly making
0:44
it extremely difficult to get to
0:48
operating from the famous diver support
0:50
vessel Darkstar we were based in the
0:53
corish port of Newland giving us a 120 m
0:57
round trip to reach the dive site
1:00
we had six Targets in that area and only
1:04
two days to dive them so it was always
1:08
going to be a bit hit and miss the first
1:12
day was definitely miss in 110 M we
1:16
dived a small colier it was nice enough
1:20
quite pretty but it wasn't the Jacob
1:23
Jones following a lot of soul searching
1:26
and scrutinizing of historical sinking
1:29
records and UK hydrographic
1:32
information another dive site was chosen
1:36
and boy did that Prov to be a good
1:38
decision another good decision was that
1:40
I was diving with Rick eron if you've
1:43
seen my other videos you'll know that
1:45
he's a wonderful underwater photographer
1:48
and he captured some absolutely stunning
1:51
ones on this dive the photo of the Bell
1:54
that you've already seen at the
1:55
beginning of this video was one of his
1:58
but he also got a load more
2:00
and I've put them together towards the
2:02
end of this
2:03
video If you fast forward to the 13
2:07
minutes and 30 seconds Point you'll see
2:10
them it's also notable that Rick is the
2:13
person who found the bell and he found
2:15
it super quickly I was still faffing
2:18
around sorting out my strobes in the
2:20
other bottom of dive admin that we tend
2:22
to do when I heard a load of shouting
2:25
and it was Rick he must have found the
2:27
Bell pretty much the instant he hit the
2:30
seabed but he was calling and obviously
2:32
I went over to see what it was and uh
2:35
and there was the Bell it was just an
2:36
incredible moment and so quickly
2:39
unfortunately I haven't got that moment
2:41
captured on video and the reason is
2:44
before this dive I was experiencing
2:46
problems with my power lens it was
2:48
mounted on my uh on my mask but it was
2:51
really uh unreliable it would sometimes
2:54
turn on sometimes turn off so to try and
2:57
resolve it and also to get a bit better
2:59
quity quality video I uh I moved it and
3:02
mounted it on my scooter unfortunately
3:04
the scooter Mount wasn't great and the
3:06
uh the video lights that that I put on
3:08
there one of them uh one of them failed
3:11
and so you'll see during the uh uh
3:14
during the the video that there was only
3:16
only one working uh the other thing is I
3:19
didn't realize that the power lens
3:21
wasn't on until I actually uh started uh
3:25
looking at the Bell so there's a big
3:27
chunk missing at the bottom of the dive
3:29
which is really sad and in fact this bit
3:31
of video that you're watching at the
3:32
moment is from uh the dive I did day
3:35
before on the colier so you may feel
3:37
that's a bit of a swiz sorry about that
3:39
but the good news is uh it's about to
3:42
cut very very shortly and we're going to
3:44
go on and we're going to start the dive
3:46
with the appearance of the bell and
3:49
there it is we're now looking at the
3:51
bell of the Jacob Jones in5 M really
3:55
close to the
3:57
shotline we've turned it over so when we
4:00
found it it was on its side but we put
4:02
it up like that so that we could see uh
4:05
the writing on it and we could see the
4:07
name Jacob Jones that you've already
4:08
seen at the beginning what's happening
4:10
now is I've realized there's some other
4:12
divers around and I'm trying to indicate
4:14
to them that they should come over and
4:16
look at the Bell uh Unfortunately they
4:18
don't and so only Rick and myself
4:22
actually saw the bell of the Jacob Jones
4:24
on this dive even though there were
4:26
another another three people down
4:28
there nobody else had ever dived this
4:31
wreck and I doubt very much whether
4:34
anyone has dived it since what has
4:36
happened though is that the Royal Navy
4:39
on behalf of the US Navy have recovered
4:43
the bell and it's on its way to a museum
4:46
in America which is absolutely brilliant
4:48
and the right place it should be what it
4:50
does mean though is that only two people
4:53
will ever have seen that Bell underwater
4:56
uh Rick who found it uh and myself who
4:59
was fortunate enough to be diving with
5:00
Rick so that he uh he called me over so
5:03
I could have a look at it
5:06
now what's going on here is you can see
5:09
only one of my video lights is working
5:12
which is the one on the right hand side
5:13
explains why the video quality is so
5:15
poor and it's it's one of the really
5:17
frustrating things about this dive is
5:19
that if I'd have dived with a setup now
5:22
I'd have some absolutely stunning video
5:24
footage but because this setup was kind
5:27
of experimental or certainly a prototype
5:31
it just isn't that great it it really
5:33
frustrates me and you can see I'm
5:35
mocking around with bits and pieces on
5:37
the scooter when of course what I would
5:39
really love to be doing is is getting
5:41
around the wreck and having a look at
5:42
different bits and
5:44
pieces um the good news is I'm about to
5:47
sort it out pretty shortly and then
5:49
we'll uh we'll we'll crack
5:52
on so you can just see Rick coming in uh
5:56
on the right hand side there he's got
5:57
his skills Stills camera mounted on top
6:00
of his his piranha scooter and we're
6:02
going to we're going to head off around
6:03
the wreck together the Jacob Jones was a
6:06
destroyer which at that time broadly
6:09
meant a really quick vessel armed with
6:13
smallish guns and lots of torpedoes that
6:15
was mainly used for scouting and
6:17
reconnaissance but during the first
6:19
world war they did a lot of Convoy
6:21
Escorts as well and the uh the OTS
6:24
really really feared them so no doubt
6:26
that Hans Rose was very pleased when he
6:29
uh when he sank it unlike cargo ships
6:33
military vessels are just full of stuff
6:36
loads of boilers
6:38
engines various other bits and pieces
6:41
and that Mak some really interesting
6:43
wrecks to dive there's always loads to
6:45
see they're not not like cargo ships
6:47
where there's just big amounts of space
6:50
or if you're lucky large quantities of
6:52
cargo such as the coal that we'd seen on
6:54
the uh on the on the day
6:57
before having been at the bridge area
6:59
where we found the Bell we're now moving
7:02
towards a Stern so this is the kind of
7:04
main Machinery spaces of the of the
7:07
vessel we thought that the Jacob Jones
7:10
was on its uh starboard side so the main
7:13
bulk of the the ship is actually off to
7:15
the right hand side all the engine
7:17
spaces boilers and all that kind of
7:19
stuff unfortunately that's also where my
7:21
video light is so it's not the quality
7:24
is not as good as I I would like it to
7:26
be but hopefully you can still see
7:28
there's pipes and machine Ary and valves
7:31
and all sorts of stuff all over the
7:33
place I guess the other thing to mention
7:35
is that in my left hand I've got my main
7:37
torch uh which is run on a uh from
7:40
canister in the on my rebreather now
7:44
that doesn't make for great video and as
7:46
you can see I'm uh I'm sort of waving it
7:49
around and focusing on whatever I'm I'm
7:51
interested in and that just you know
7:53
once again reduces the quality of the
7:55
video but underwater I'm I'm not really
7:58
thinking that much about the video I'm
8:00
more interested in uh in trying to find
8:02
stuff now what's really interesting is
8:05
I'm about to find something and if you
8:07
can have a look to the right hand side
8:09
you can see it this is a torpedo tube in
8:12
the middle you can see the the mounting
8:15
the circular mounting which was used to
8:17
kind of aim it and then there that's
8:19
looking at one end of the torpedo tube I
8:21
think this was a actually a pair of
8:23
torpedo tube so the other one would be
8:25
underneath it probably under the sand
8:28
the Jacob Jones had had four pairs of uh
8:31
torpedo tubes so that's uh that's one of
8:33
them there you know these would have
8:35
been made of bronze and you know
8:38
absolutely incredible things um as you
8:41
can see though I'm not I'm not hanging
8:43
around it's 115 M really limited dive
8:47
time there was actually a load of
8:48
current on this uh on this site as well
8:50
you can probably see it's uh it's coming
8:52
towards me at the moment I'm actually
8:54
really lucky I've got the scooter which
8:56
which reduces a lot of the the work down
8:58
there
9:00
only Rick and myself had scooters the
9:02
other the other guys were Finning and
9:03
they all came up and uh reported how
9:06
difficult it was so very few of them
9:09
managed to see as much of the wreck as
9:10
we did now the next interesting thing is
9:13
is just coming up in front of me here
9:15
you can see this big I guess tube or
9:17
pipe that's got a 90° Bend in it and if
9:20
you have a look at the end of that 90°
9:22
Bend is actually a prop so this is one
9:24
of the uh the propellers from the Jacob
9:27
Jones and you think what needs to happen
9:29
to a vessel for a a prop shaft to have a
9:33
90° Bend in it absolutely incredible
9:38
um the the Jacob Jones was torpedoed in
9:41
the stern so the my view uh and the view
9:44
of Rick is is that that was probably
9:47
something that happened during the
9:49
initial
9:50
explosion um but I think it just shows
9:53
the scale of of Destruction that was
9:55
wrought on a you know relatively small
9:57
ship the top Torpedoes at the time were
10:00
designed for sinking much much bigger
10:02
cargo ships so it would have had a lot
10:04
of explosives in it and uh and that
10:07
massive amount of explosives hitting a
10:09
small vessel like the Jacob Jones blew
10:12
the blew the back to
10:13
smithin and uh you know cause that 90°
10:17
Bend this is us moving back towards the
10:20
uh the front of the ship as a do so
10:22
going over the top of something that
10:24
that may well be a steam turbine
10:26
underneath me there um difficult to say
10:29
for certain but it had that kind of that
10:32
look now heading back over this is the
10:36
port side of the ship or or what's left
10:38
of it so I'm a bit higher up than I was
10:41
earlier on where I was on the
10:43
seabed uh once again I'm looking down
10:46
into into the Machinery spaces you can
10:48
see you know things that could be
10:51
engines there's a load of pipes there um
10:54
there's going to be some boilers at some
10:56
point you'll see the the kind of the
10:58
boiler tubes
11:02
but there's the strobes and that's my
11:04
way
11:05
home at the end of a dive like this it's
11:08
always a good feeling to get back to
11:10
them and know that you're all sorted for
11:13
your
11:13
Ascent one of the photos I showed at the
11:16
beginning of the uh of the slideshow was
11:18
actually a photograph of the Jacob Jones
11:20
sinking taken by uh one of the guys who
11:24
was on on a life raft it didn't sink
11:26
instantly so that so they did have
11:28
enough time to get off but I think a
11:29
load of the life rafts were actually
11:31
destroyed in the initial explosion so
11:33
there wasn't enough time for or wasn't
11:36
enough space rather for everyone to get
11:38
on board them uh very famously one of
11:41
the uh the junior officers on the Jacob
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Jones was in the water and spent his
11:46
time swimming from uh one life raft to
11:49
another um speaking to the guys who were
11:52
hanging on the side of it you know
11:53
encouraging them to uh to hang on and to
11:56
endure and uh to wait for help very very
12:00
sadly uh he died we should definitely
12:04
take a moment though to remember the
12:06
heroics of leftenant Junior grade
12:09
Stanton Frederick
12:11
culk he was 23 years old when he died
12:15
and the US Navy awarded him the
12:17
distinguished service medal for his
12:21
self-sacrifice someone else who comes
12:23
out of this really well is actually Hans
12:26
Rose the German skipper Not only was his
12:30
sinking of the Jacob Jones an incredible
12:32
feat of seamanship the torpedo was
12:35
launched at about the maximum range in
12:38
some pretty tricky conditions but also
12:41
having sunk the Jacob Jones he then
12:43
surfaced his submarine took two very
12:46
seriously wounded people on board and
12:49
perhaps incredibly then radioed back to
12:52
the American base in Queenstown now Cove
12:56
in southern Ireland to tell them that
12:58
there was a large number of sailors in
13:00
the water and that they they should send
13:03
help
13:04
immediately by doing so he placed his
13:07
own submarine at risk and I think it's a
13:10
mark of Hans Rose's Humanity that he
13:12
still felt that calling for help was the
13:14
right thing to do approximately half the
13:17
crew of the Jacob Jones survived though
13:20
I think it's doubtful that very many
13:22
would have done so but for H Rose's
13:26
actions to make up for the poor quality
13:28
of my video Rick has very kindly allowed
13:32
me to use some of his photos now this
13:35
one is obviously of the Bell but what I
13:37
didn't notice at the time is that right
13:40
next to it was one of the telegraphs
13:42
from the
13:43
bridge obviously it's covered in net and
13:46
rope and buried in sand but what's
13:49
interesting is that it isn't a coffee
13:52
grinder Telegraph like the ones used by
13:54
the Royal
13:55
Navy Rick has changed position he's now
13:58
pretty much next to where the telegraph
14:01
is and so he's got the Bell from a
14:03
different angle this is before we moved
14:05
it so this is exactly as it was when we
14:07
got down there we've now stood it up and
14:11
obviously the purpose of doing this is
14:12
so that we could read the name also
14:15
allows you to see the Bell hanger on the
14:16
left hand side and you can see where it
14:18
was attached to the ship this is it from
14:21
another angle and this is the one that
14:23
I've shown you already where the Jacob
14:25
is really clearly
14:27
visible Rick did didn't just take photos
14:30
of the Bell though this is me with my
14:33
scooter set up with only one video light
14:36
working this is another one of me you
14:39
can see all the boilers off to my right
14:40
hand side another couple of
14:44
photos just showing the amount of
14:46
Machinery there was in those kind of
14:48
engine spaces this is a good example I
14:52
think it's uh it's probably a condenser
14:54
but I'm not 100%
14:56
certain something else looks as though
14:58
it would have been important and useful
15:00
no idea what it is that's clearly a
15:03
wheel I love this photo which is of the
15:07
the prop shaft showing once again how
15:09
much it's been deformed no doubt through
15:12
the violence of the sinking I thought
15:15
I'd save the best to last though and
15:17
Rick also saw two of the four 4in guns
15:21
on board the Jacob Jones they're both
15:24
inverted and buried in the seabed but
15:26
it's absolutely clear that's what they
15:28
are I'm kicking myself cuz I didn't see
15:31
either of them still that's the way it
15:33
goes and good skills for to Rick for
15:36
recording them back to the dive though
15:40
we've had the fun it's now time for the
15:42
pain and that pain is two and a half
15:45
hours of
15:46
decompression but all the time we know
15:50
it's job done mission accomplished it's
15:53
beyond question that the wreck is a
15:55
Jacob
15:56
Jones we've seen the Bell with the first
15:59
to dive it no one ever else will ever be
16:02
able to do that that's just an
16:05
incredible feeling and the sort of thing
16:07
that sustains you through long periods
16:09
of
16:09
Deco here I am just towards the end it's
16:13
not actually the Jacob Jones it's the
16:15
colia dive on the day before but you get
16:18
the
16:19
idea I'm ascending up to the
16:22
surface we've been drifting for hours
16:26
and as always there's kind of there's
16:28
just just the hope that the boat's there
16:31
now I know it's there cuz I've heard it
16:34
so uh so that's not a concern but here I
16:37
am looking around we're just Miles and
16:39
Miles offshore and there it is brilliant
16:43
Dark Star here to come and pick me up
16:46
get me out of the water I'm really Keen
16:48
to do that we're so lucky in uh Mark
16:52
Dixon the skipper of Dark Star he's uh
16:56
he's he's done you know the most
16:57
incredible Dives himself you know he's a
16:59
proper Pioneer doesn't do it uh really
17:02
these days but he's all about the uh the
17:06
Expeditions it's all about the uh the
17:08
finding new stuff and the fact that he's
17:10
willing to take us out and do this kind
17:12
of thing we're just we're just so
17:15
fortunate uh as a diver he knows he
17:18
knows exactly what divers want he knows
17:21
how to look after them and he's he's a
17:23
great Skipper so here I am just at the
17:26
back of the boat just waiting for the
17:28
call come around get on the lift uh and
17:32
then they'll get me out of water and uh
17:35
some of the other guys have already got
17:36
out already will'll be there to kind of
17:38
give us a hand get my gear off get me
17:41
sat down because this moment when all of
17:43
a sudden the lift comes up all that
17:45
weight comes back on you all the gear
17:48
that you're carrying gravity suddenly
17:50
returns with a Vengeance it's uh it's
17:54
always an interesting moment but having
17:56
people uh willing to kind of help you
17:58
out to get the gear off you um that's uh
18:02
it's just
18:03
fantastic well that's another one of my
18:06
diving videos coming to a close I very
18:09
much hope you've enjoyed it uh I hope if
18:11
you have you'll uh you put a comment
18:14
you'll uh you'll like it you'll uh
18:17
you'll share it with your mates and of
18:19
course if you haven't already done so uh
18:21
please subscribe that would be brilliant
18:24
okay well thank you and uh hope you
18:26
enjoy my next video
18:29
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