USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)
Encyclopedia
USS Jacob Jones (Destroyer No. 61/DD-61)The United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
's hull classification system
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
—in which Jacob Jones would have been designated DD-61—was not implemented until July 1920. Even though Jacob Jones was never known as DD-61 while afloat, many reference works nevertheless extend the system and refer to the ship by what her designation would have been, had she survived the war. was a built for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
prior to the American entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of Jacob Jones
Jacob Jones
Commodore Jacob Nicholas Jones was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812.-Biography:...
.
Jacob Jones was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, in August 1914 and launched in May of the following year. The ship was a little more than 315 feet (96 m) in length, just over 30 feet (9.1 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
, and had a standard displacement of 1090 long tons (1,107.5 MT). She was armed with four 4 inches (10.2 cm) guns and had eight 21 inches (533.4 mm) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s. Jacob Jones was powered by a pair of steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s that propelled her at up to 30 knots.
After her February 1916 commissioning, Jacob Jones conducted patrols off the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
coast. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Jacob Jones was sent overseas. Patrolling the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
out of Queenstown, Ireland, Jacob Jones rescued the survivors of several ships, notably picking up over 300 from the sunken Armed merchant cruiser .
On 6 December, Jacob Jones was steaming independently from Brest, France
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, for Queenstown, when she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine with the loss of 66 officers and men, becoming the first United States destroyer to ever be sunk by enemy action. Jacob Jones sank in eight minutes without issuing a distress call; the German submarine commander, Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose
Hans Rose
Lieutenant Commander Hans Rose was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during .Rose was one of the most respected and brave U-boat commanders and famous for his humanity and fairness in battle...
, after taking two badly injured Jacob Jones crewmen aboard his submarine, radioed the American base at Queenstown with the coordinates for the survivors.
Design and construction
Jacob Jones was authorized in 1913 as the fifth ship of the which, like the related , was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911. Construction of the vessel was awarded to New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New JerseyCamden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, which laid down her keel on 3 August 1914. Ten months later, on 29 May 1915, Jacob Jones was launched by sponsor Mrs. Jerome Parker Crittendon, a great-granddaughter of the ship's namesake, Commodore Jacob Jones
Jacob Jones
Commodore Jacob Nicholas Jones was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812.-Biography:...
(1768–1850), a U.S. Navy officer during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. As built, Jacob Jones was 315 in 3 in (96.09 m) in length and 30 in 6 in (9.3 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
and drew 9 in 8 in (2.95 m). The ship had a standard displacement of 1060 long tons (1,077 MT) and displaced 1205 long tons (1,224.3 MT) when fully loaded.
Jacob Jones had two Curtis steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers, and an additional steam turbine geared to one of the propeller shafts for cruising purposes. The power plant could generate 17000 shp and move the ship at speeds up to 30 knots.
Jacob Jones main battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
consisted of four 4 inches (102 mm)/50 Mark 9 guns,The 50 denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as it is in diameter, 200 inches (5.1 m) in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth U.S. Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun. with each gun weighing in excess of 6100 lbs. The guns fired 33 lbs armor-piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
s at 2900 feet per second (883.9 m/s). At an elevation
Elevation (ballistics)
In ballistics, the elevation is the angle between the horizontal plane and the direction of the barrel of a gun, mortar or heavy artillery. Originally, elevation was a linear measure of how high the gunners had to physically lift the muzzle of a gun up from the gun carriage to hit targets at a...
of 20°, the guns had a range of 15920 yards.
Jacob Jones was also equipped with eight 21 inches (533 mm) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s. The General Board of the United States Navy
General Board of the United States Navy
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, effectively a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916...
had called for two anti-aircraft guns for the Tucker-class ships, as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating mines. From sources, it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for Jacob Jones or any of the other ships of the class.
United States Navy career
USS Jacob Jones was commissioned into the United States Navy on 10 February 1916 under the command of Lieutenant CommanderLieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
William S. Pye
William S. Pye
Vice Admiral William Satterlee Pye, United States Navy, was an Admiral in the U.S. Navy who served in World Wars I and II. His last active-duty appointment was as President of the Naval War College, 1942-1945...
. Following her commissioning, Jacob Jones conducted training exercises off the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
coast, and then entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs. Upon the United States' entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on 6 April 1917, Jacob Jones patrolled off the coast of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. She sailed from Boston for Europe on 7 May with a group of destroyers that included , and arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, on 17 May.
Jacob Jones duties at Queenstown involved patrolling and escorting convoys in the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
and making occasional rescues of survivors of sunken ships. On 8 July, was torpedoed by German submarine some 120 nautical miles (222.2 km) west of Fastnet Rock
Fastnet Rock
Fastnet Rock is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean and the most southerly point of Ireland. It lies southwest of Cape Clear Island and from County Cork on the Irish mainland...
; Jacob Jones arrived on the scene and picked up 44 survivors of the British steamship. While escorting British steamship two weeks later, lookouts on Jacob Jones sighted a periscope
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
, but before the destroyer could make an attack on the submarine, torpedoed and sank the steamship. Jacob Jones was able to take on 26 of Dafilas 28-member crew after the ship went down.
On 19 October, the British Armed merchant cruiser and ten destroyers, including Jacob Jones, were escorting an eastbound convoy of twenty steamers, when German submarine surfaced in the midst of the group. The submarine launched its only remaining torpedo at Orama, sinking that vessel. While sister ship
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
saw and depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
d U-62 (to no avail), Jacob Jones turned her attentions to rescuing Oramas survivors, gathering 309.
Sinking
In early December, Jacob Jones helped escort a convoy to Brest, FranceBrest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, with five other Queenstown-based destroyers. The last to depart from Brest on the return to Ireland, Jacob Jones was steaming alone in a zig-zag pattern when she was spotted by Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose
Hans Rose
Lieutenant Commander Hans Rose was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during .Rose was one of the most respected and brave U-boat commanders and famous for his humanity and fairness in battle...
on the German submarine . At 16:20 on 6 December 1917, near position 49°23′N 6°13′W, lookouts on Jacob Jones spotted a torpedo 800 yards distant headed for the ship's starboard side. Despite having her rudder put hard left and emergency speed rung up, Jacob Jones was unable to move out of the way, and the torpedo struck her amidships in the starboard fuel tank. Even though the fuel oil did not ignite, Jacob Jones began sinking by the stern. The jolt had knocked out power, so the destroyer was unable to send a distress signal; since she was steaming alone, no other ship was present to know of Jacob Jones predicament.
Commander David W. Bagley
David W. Bagley
David Worth Bagley was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He was also the brother of Ensign Worth Bagley, who was the only United States Navy officer killed in action during the Spanish-American War....
, the destroyer's commander, ordered all life rafts and boats launched. He then ordered Jacob Jones abandoned, knowing that the ship's cargo of depth charges, set on "ready", would probably detonate at any moment. As the ship continued to sink, her bow raised in the air almost vertically before she began to slip beneath the waves. At this point the depth charges began exploding, killing a number of men who had been able to escape the destroyer, and stunning many others in the water. The destroyer, the first United States destroyer ever lost to enemy action, sank eight minutes after the torpedo struck, taking with her two officers and sixty-four men.
In the water, several of the crew—most notably Lieutenant, junior grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...
, Stanton F. Kalk, the officer-of-the-deck when the torpedo struck—began to get men out of the water and into the life rafts. Kalk worked in the cold Atlantic water to equalize the load among the various rafts, but died of exhaustion and exposure.
Bagley noted in his official account that about 30 minutes after Jacob Jones sank, the German submarine surfaced about 2 to 3 nmi (3.7 to 5.6 km) from the collection of rafts and took one of the American sailors on board. According to Uboat.net, what Rose of U-53 had done was surface and take aboard two badly injured American sailors. Rose had also radioed the American base at Queenstown with the approximate coordinates of the sinking before departing the area.
Bagley, unaware of Rose's humanitarian gesture, left most of the food, water, and medical supplies with Lieutenant Commander John K. Richards, whom he left in charge of the assembled rafts. Bagley, Lieutenant Commander Norman Scott (Jacob Jones executive officer
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
) and four crewmen (brought along to row), set out for aid in the nearby Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
. At 13:00 on 7 December, Bagley's group was sighted by a British patrol vessel just 6 nautical miles (11.1 km) from their destination. The group was relieved to find that the British sloop had found and taken aboard most of the survivors earlier that morning; a small group had been rescued on the night of the sinking by the American steamer .
Several men were recognized for their actions in the aftermath of the torpedo attack. Kalk (posthumously) and Bagley received the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
. Others honored included Chief Boatswain's Mate Harry Gibson (posthumously) and Chief Electrician's Mate L. J. Kelly who both received the Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
; and Richards, Scott, and Chief Boatswain's Mate Charles Charlesworth all received letters of commendation.