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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 52123:  USS Jacob Jones, underway in 1916

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Jacob Jones (Destroyer # 61), 1916-1917

USS Jacob Jones, a 1150-ton Tucker class destroyer built at Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned in February 1916. She served along the East Coast during the next year and conducted war patrols in the same area for a month after the United States' April 1917 entry into the First World War. In May 1917, Jacob Jones crossed the Atlantic to begin anti-submarine patrols and convoy escort work out of Queenstown, Ireland. She rescued survivors of several torpedoed ships during the next several months. On 6 December 1917, while en route from Brest, France, to Queenstown, USS Jacob Jones was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-53. Her survivors were rescued by British ships after the German submarine's Commanding Officer, the daring and very successful Hans Rose, reported their location by radio.

USS Jacob Jones was named in honor of Commodore Jacob Jones, USN, (1768-1850), a naval hero of the War of 1812.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Jacob Jones (Destroyer # 61).

For pictures of an officer who lost his life in the sinking of USS Jacob Jones, see:

  • Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Stanton F. Kalk (1894-1917).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 52123

    USS Jacob Jones
    (Destroyer # 61)

    Underway in 1916, soon after she was completed.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46396

    USS Melville
    (Destroyer Tender # 2)

    Tending U.S. Navy destroyers at Queenstown, Ireland, 1917.
    The destroyers present include (from left to right):
    USS Jacob Jones (Destroyer # 61);
    USS Ericsson (Destroyer # 56);
    USS Wadsworth (Destroyer # 60);
    and an unidentified ship.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 510 pixels

     
    Photo #: Smithsonian 72-4509-A

    USS Jacob Jones
    (Destroyer # 61)

    Sinking off the Scilly Islands, England, on 6 December 1917, after she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-53.
    Photographed by Seaman William G. Ellis.

    Smithsonian Institution Photograph.

    Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 86495

    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Stanton F. Kalk, USN


    Painting by F. Luis Mora, depicting Lt(JG) Kalk assisting survivors of USS Jacob Jones (Destroyer # 61) after she was sunk by the German submarine U-53 off the Scilly Isles on 6 December 1917.
    A plaque accompanying this painting read: "The Jacob Jones was sunk by an enemy torpedo between Brest and Queenstown. Lieutenant (jg) S.F. Kalk rendered conspicuous and gallant services after the ship sank by helping men from one raft to another so as to equalize the weight on the rafts. He died of exposure and exhaustion in order to save others. Lieutenant (jg) Kalk was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal posthumously."

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 505 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 92064

    USS Jacob Jones
    (Destroyer # 61)

    Ship's survivors following their rescue. Jacob Jones was sunk off the Scilly Isles by the German submarine U-53, on 6 December 1917.

    Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1981.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 94774-KN (Color)

    "Uncle Sam's Ships"

    Cover for sheet music composed and written by Chief Yeoman Daisy May Pratt Erd, USNRF, during World War I. It features the names of 109 U.S. Navy ships, from battleships to tugs and patrol boats.

    Donation of Miss G.H. Erd, 1973.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 136KB; 585 x 765 pixels

     


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 20 September 2002
    New image added 29 September 2002