Divers find wreck of iconic US WWI ship, 131 dead: “Their final destination is finally known”

A U.S. warship sunk by a German submarine in World War I has been found by a group of divers off the coast of Britain more than 100 years after it went missing, officials said Wednesday. The 1918 sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa in the Bristol Channel killed 131 service members, the largest loss of life of any US warship during the war.

The long-lost ship was found by the British diving team Gasperados about 50 miles off Cornwall more than 300 meters deep in the Atlantic Ocean, the Coast Guard confirmed on Wednesday. The team of divers had previously announced the find, saying they had “finally cracked it” after a three-year search.

In the summer of 1917, six United States Coast Guard cutters were sent overseas on convoy duty, and the Tampa was the only one that never returned. Under the command of Captain Charles Satterlee, the ship escorted 18 squadrons, receiving special commendation for exemplary service.

The ship’s logs show that the morale of the crew was high and they list acts of selflessness. For example, an electrician once jumped into the water to rescue a British officer who was drowning and two medical officers once went to another ship to treat an injured sailor. The crew even lent the cutter’s ice cream freezer to another ship without permission.

But the Tampa’s demise was closed on the night of September 26, 1918. While sailing through the Bristol Channel towards the port of Wales to get more fuel, she was intercepted by the German submarine UB-91.

The Tampa sank in less than three minutes. US destroyers and British defense ships searched for survivors but all they found were a few pieces of debris and two unidentified bodies in naval uniforms. All 131 people on board – 111 Coast Guardsmen, four US Navy personnel and 16 British Navy personnel and civilians – were killed.

“When Tampa was lost with all hands in 1918, it left an indelible mark on our service,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, commander of the Coast Guard, in a statement Wednesday. “Finding a tragedy connects us with their sacrifice and reminds us that dedication to work endures. We will always miss them.”

In 2023, the Gasperados Dive Team contacted the Coast Guard about the search for the Tampa, and the military agreed to provide the volunteer team with all information to help locate the wreck, including archival photos of the ship’s deck and wheel, steel and armor.

After three years of coming up empty, the dive team said last week it would explore the last two targets after receiving “new intel.” Three days later, the team announced that Tampa had been found.

“This discovery is the result of three years of research and testing,” said dive team leader Steve Mortimer. “Tampa is very important to the United States and to the relatives of all those who died that day. Their final resting place is known at last.”

The Coast Guard said it is now planning more underwater research and vessel inspections, using robots and autonomous systems.

Other shipwrecks from World War I have been found around the world in recent years.

Last year, nine ships sunk by German torpedoes during World War I found off the coast of Morocco.

In November 2024, British military officials announced that a ship found off the coast of Scotland was confirmed to be HMS Hawkea British submarine was torpedoed during World War I, killing more than 500 crew members.

About a month earlier, the German World War I cruiser Titania was found by an expedition ship off the coast of Chile.