USS Jacob Jones (DD-130)

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USS Jacob Jones (DD-130)
USS Jacob Jones in the 1930s
USS Jacob Jones in the 1930s
Ship data
flag United StatesUnited States (national flag) United States
Ship type destroyer
class Wickes class
Shipyard New York Shipbuilding , Camden
Build number 215
Keel laying February 21, 1918
Launch November 20, 1918
Commissioning October 20, 1919
06/24/22 to 04/30/30 a. D.
Whereabouts Sunk by U 578 off the US east coast on February 28, 1942
Ship dimensions and crew
length
95.8 m ( Lüa )
94.5 m ( Lpp )
width 9.68 m
Draft Max. 2.64 m
displacement 1090  ts standard
 
crew 113 men
Machine system
machine 4 White-Forster - boilers
2 Parsons - geared turbines
Machine
performance 		27,000 PS (19,858 kW)
Top
speed 		35 kn (65 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

USS Jacob Jones (DD-130) of the Wickes-class was named after Commodore Jacob Jones USN (1768–1850); she was the second destroyer to bear this name, entered service with the US Navy in 1919 . The first destroyer of that name, USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) , was the only US Navy destroyer to be sunk during World War I. In the early morning of February 28, 1942, the second Jacob Jones was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine . Despite the proximity of the American east coast, the rescue measures could only save 12 Jacob Jones men . The destroyer was the first of its class to be lost in service with the US Navy during World War II.

History of the ship

The keel of the second USS Jacob Jones was laid at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden (New Jersey) with hull number 215 as Destroyer No.130 on February 21, 1918. On November 20, 1918, the second destroyer named after the Commodore Jones became the US Navy christened and launched by a great-granddaughter of the Commodore. The first USS "Jacob Jones" , Destroyer No. 61, the Tucker class , had entered service in the Navy on February 10, 1916 and was sunk by U 53 on December 6, 1917 . Only 38 men of the crew could be saved.
After the complete equipment of the new destroyer in Philadelphia began on December 4 trials in the Atlantic . On December 22nd, the destroyer arrived in Pensacola, Florida . Still in training, the destroyer moved to the Pacific on January 3, 1920. On January 26, the ship reached San Diego . The destroyer was primarily used on the California coast for artillery and anti-aircraft training. On August 17, the destroyer came to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs and a thorough overhaul; he was given reserve status.
To be used in the Destroyer Force of the Pacific Fleet , the Jacob Jones came back into service on June 18, 1921 and was deployed from San Diego until she was decommissioned again on June 24, 1922 and assigned to the reserve.

The Jacob Jones was put back into service on May 1, 1930 and used as a backup ship for the aircraft carriers between Alaska and Mexico . She took part in battleship exercises in August and came to the Mare Island naval shipyard for repairs in November. Ready for action again, the destroyer drove to Panama on February 4, 1931 , where it was again the security ship of the carrier Langley . Jacob Jones used the Panama Canal on March 22nd to participate in maneuvers in the Caribbean . From May 1, the destroyer moved to the American east coast to take part in maneuvers together with the United States Army in the Chesapeake Bay from May 26 to 29 . In the summer, the ship was part of Destroyer Division 7 on the New England coast before it went to the Boston Navy Yard for an overhaul on October 2 . Jacob Jones left Boston on December 1st for maneuvers off Haiti . On February 13, 1932, the destroyer left the Caribbean again to perform security service for seaplanes on the California coast for the next 13 months and to intensify torpedo training . On May 1, 1933, the destroyer returned to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to take part in maneuvers. On May 26, the ship then sailed to Norfolk, Virginia to become part of a manned reserve structure. After another two-month overhaul in Charleston , the Jacob Jones returned to Guantanamo on November 29th to take part in various exercises. On June 29, she broke off the training to accompany the visit of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Port-au-Prince , Haiti (part of the " Good Neighbor Policy "). In July, the destroyer resumed its training operations and also took part in an exercise with landing forces in Guantanamo Bay in September. At the end of November, the destroyer left the Caribbean and moved to the Norfolk Navy Yard on December 3, 1934 for a major overhaul lasting several months. In May 1935, Jacob Jones resumed training cadets for the United States Naval Academy in the Atlantic through July 7th. In the following three months, inspection and training trips were carried out on the coast. The ship then moved to New York in order to take part in maneuvers with other destroyers in September. In January 1936, the destroyer moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for thorough inspection and overhaul. On June 15, 1936, the destroyer left New York for training trips with reserve officers to the Caribbean until September. In October, the Army and Navy carried out joint maneuvers in the Caribbean before the usual technical inspection in Norfolk. From February 1937, the destroyer took part in mine sweeping training. This was followed by training trips with officers from the 5th Fleet Reserve and, from June, training trips with cadets. The training voyages ended on January 15, 1938, when the ship ran out of Norfolk for landing exercises with the fleet. After maneuvers with the fleet around Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands , the Jacob Jones returned to Norfolk on March 13 for an overhaul. In June, the destroyer resumed its training activities from there, focusing on working with aircraft carriers and the use of torpedoes and artillery as well as training reserve officers.

USS Omaha (CL-4) in Ville France

In September 1938, the Jacob Jones was preparing for a deployment in Europe with Squadron 40-T in the Mediterranean . The flotilla set up in September 1936 was supposed to protect American citizens during the Spanish Civil War and, if necessary, to evacuate them; the destroyer left Norfolk on October 26th reached Gibraltar on November 6th and Villefranche on November 17th together with the Badger . The two destroyers replaced the Claxton and Manley previously used . The association's flagship was the light cruiser Omaha . The French Mediterranean port was the starting point for the American inspection voyages until March 20, 1939.

The American destroyers then visited Algiers on March 24-25, 1939 and then other European ports between Rotterdam and Lisbon . From there, the return march of the two destroyers began together with the Omaha to the United States, where they arrived in Norfolk on October 14, 1939 . The cruiser had been in maintenance work during the destroyers' visit to the west coast of Europe in Malta . The newly formed Squadron 40-T with the cruiser Trenton and the destroyers Dickerson and Herbert remained in Lisbon .

The Jacob Jones 1939

The Jacob Jones resumed her usual training duties at home, monitoring the sea area between Norfolk and Newport (Rhode Island) and accompanying the submarine Seadragon on its maiden voyage to the Caribbean in December . After a two-month layover in Norfolk, the Jacob Jones moved to Charleston on April 4, 1940 to take part in the neutrality patrol . This should accompany and report all war-related movements of the warring parties in the Western Hemisphere . This was to make it clear to the warring parties that the US was ready to defend this area. After two months in this task, the destroyer was used again for cadet training from June 1940. In September, the ship moved to New London (Connecticut) for intensive anti-submarine training, which was then continued in December in Key West .

From March 1941, the Jacob Jones participated again in the neutrality patrol between Key West and the Yucatán Street . From May, the destroyer took part in the close surveillance of the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, which are controlled by Vichy France . On September 30, 1941, the destroyer left Guantanamo with the Destroyer Division 54 to take over escort duties in the North Atlantic. This association also included the destroyer USS Roper as leader and the destroyers Dickerson and Herbert . Jacob Jones was given two months for an overhaul and full equipment in Norfolk and moved to the New England coast on December 1, 1941 for final escort training .

Operations in World War II

On December 12, 1941, the Jacob Jones left the port of Boston to take up the escort service from Naval Station Argentia on Newfoundland . From the 16th the destroyer accompanied the submarines Mackerel and SS-138 in heavy seas to Boston and returned to Argentia on December 24th. The next mission followed on January 4, 1942 with the securing of the mine sweepers USS Albatross and Linnet on the way to convoy SC 63 to England. On the way to the convoy, the destroyer made underwater contact and launched an underwater attack. The contact broke off and no result could be determined. The destroyer brought the minesweepers to the convoy and was back in Argentia on January 5th.

The next mission of the Jacob Jones followed on January 14, 1942 to secure the convoy HX 169 as far as Iceland. The convoy ran into a violent hurricane and fell apart. Jacob Jones then arrived in Hvalfjörður , Iceland on January 19th alone with low fuel, a malfunctioning gyro compass and a faulty magnetic compass . Five days later, the destroyer left for home with three freighters. Again it was very stormy, which again led to the separation of the ships in heavy seas. The Jacob Jones finally ran home with only one Norwegian freighter. She discovered another submarine on February 2, 1942, but her depth charges were unsuccessful. On the 3rd, the destroyer arrived back at the base and set sail again the following day to secure convoy ON 50, which reached Boston on the 8th. There the destroyer was given a week's break to carry out urgent repairs. Then the ship marched to Norfolk and from there on the 18th to New York.

In order to reduce the losses off the American coast, the commander of the security on the Atlantic coast of the USA had ordered the search for submarines to be carried out independently of the merchant ships. On February 22nd, the Jacob Jones left New York on an independent search. The destroyer ran through a cleared canal near the Ambrose Light Ship and immediately made contact. The immediate attack continued for five hours, with Jacob Jones throwing twelve specimens and 57 depth charges. Oil spills were discovered during the last six attacks, but no other remains. As the depth charge was used up, the destroyer had to break off the journey. Subsequent investigations also did not provide any indications of a sinking.

The end of Jacob Jones

On the morning of February 27, 1942, the Jacob Jones sailed out of New York Harbor and headed south along the New Jersey coast. The search area should be between Cape May and the Cape of Delaware. Shortly after departure, the ship was ordered to search between the Barnegat (New Jersey) lighthouse and the Five Fathom Bank . In the afternoon, the destroyer discovered the burning wreck of the tanker RI Resor , which had been torpedoed the day before. The destroyer circled the ship but found no survivors. After about two hours, the Jacob Jones continued her voyage south, sent a message to its headquarters at 8 p.m. and continued south in the dark.

An eagle boat

At the first light on February 28, 1942, the previously undiscovered German U 578 fired a torpedo fan at the unexpectedly discovered destroyer. Two or three torpedoes hit the destroyer surprisingly in the starboard side. According to the survivors, the first hit went shortly behind the bridge and caused the destroyer's magazine to explode. The explosion destroyed the bridge tower with all central facilities of the destroyer. The second torpedo hit about 12 m in front of the stern and tore the stern off with the screws. The ship had neither a drive nor any means of communication. The heavily damaged ship came to a standstill, around 30 men had died, including the commandant, Lieutenant Commander Black. The survivors should leave the sinking ship on four / five rafts because the boats were damaged. After more than 45 minutes, the destroyer sank to 38 ° 37 ′  N , 74 ° 32 ′  W Coordinates: 38 ° 37 ′ 0 ″  N , 74 ° 32 ′ 0 ″  W and then the torn off stern section, with its own depth charges exploding and others Victims caused.

At 8:10 a.m., a US Army reconnaissance aircraft accidentally discovered the rafts and alerted the Navy. The patrol boat USS Eagle 56 (615 ts, 1919) actually found one of the Jacob Jones' rafts with 12 men in the morning . The following search yielded no further findings. Because of the worsening weather and the supplies of the boat, the search for other castaways had to be stopped before 12 noon. Further searches on the following days did not yield any new information either. Before it even reached the coast, one of the castaways on board the Eagle 56 died . The seven officers and 131 other crew members did not survive the sinking of the Jacob Jones . Only eleven crew members could be saved.

USS Jacob Jones (DE-130) 1943

The next Jacob Jones

From April 29, 1943, the US Navy once again had a ship of this name with the destroyer escort USS Jacob Jones (DE-130) of the Edsall class . The new ship was mainly used in the Atlantic, it was decommissioned on July 26, 1946, but was not retired until January 2, 1971 and sold for demolition in August 1973.

literature

Web links

Commons : USS Jacob Jones (DD-130)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Jacob Jones II (Destroyer No. 130) history.navy.mil
  3. ↑ Rohwer: Sea War, February 10 - March 20, 1942 West Atlantic