Catherine Rusoff
A huge brass bell that sank with a torpedoed US Navy destroyer during World War I more than a century ago, it was returned to the United States, officials said.
The 80-pound bell from the USS Jacob Jones was presented to U.S. Navy Admiral James Kilby by a Royal Navy officer in a ceremony earlier this month, the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) announced. In a post on social mediathe outlet shared an image of Kilby receiving from Royal Navy Vice Admiral Martin Connell what is now considered a historical artifact, honoring the soldiers who died aboard the US Navy destroyer.
The symbolic transfer took place at Lancaster House in London last week.
“This bell serves as a reminder of the 64 sailors aboard the Jacob Jones who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our country’s freedom and those who defied it,” Kilby said in a statement. “As the first U.S. destroyer lost in combat, her crew’s legacy will live on, their stories will be told and their losses will be remembered as we preserve this piece of our nation’s history.
O USS Jacob Jones Sunk in the English Channel on 6 December 1917 after being hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, becoming the first US Navy destroyer sunk by enemy fire. Of the seven officers and 103 crew members aboard the Jacob Jones when she was torpedoed, 64 died, according to the NHHC.
The bell, once fixed to the warship itself, sank with the ship and was lost to time until a group of experienced divers discovered the wreckage in August 2022.
They found it about 120 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, about 90 kilometers south of Cornwall in southern England, authorities said at the time. Although the US Navy typically observes a hands-off policy when it comes to older shipwrecks discovered in contemporary times, the NHHC partnered with the UK Ministry of Defense to study the wreck site and rescue the bell, for fear of others to do so illegally.
Image courtesy of the UK Ministry of Defence, Rescue and Marine Operations (SALMO)
The bell was recovered in January and temporarily handed over to the private British company Wessex Archeology, under contract with the NHHC, for initial treatment. Upon return to the U.S., the bell will undergo conservation treatment at the command’s Conservation, Research and Archeology Laboratory to prepare it for display at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C.
While the agency has not released a specific timeline for the conservation effort, Shanna Daniel, NHHC archaeological conservator, said in a statement that her goal is to prepare the bell for “long-term curation and display.”
“We believe the bell will provide a tangible way for the public to connect and learn about the story of Jacob Jones and the U.S. Navy’s role in World War I,” Daniel said.
