TAMPA, Fla. — The wreckage of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa has been located and confirmed by the British technical-diving team Gasperados approximately 50 miles off Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, at a depth exceeding 300 feet in the Atlantic Ocean.
Tampa was lost in 1918 during World War I after being torpedoed by a German submarine in the Bristol Channel. The vessel sank in less than 3 minutes, killing all 131 people aboard — 111 Coast Guardsmen, 4 U.S. Navy personnel, and 16 British Navy personnel and civilians. The loss remains the largest single American naval combat loss of life in World War I.
"Since 1790, the Coast Guard has defended our nation during every armed conflict in American history, a legacy reflected in the courage and sacrifice of the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Tampa," Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, said. "When the Tampa was lost with all hands in 1918, it left an enduring grief in our service. Locating the wreck connects us to their sacrifice and reminds us that devotion to duty endures. We will always remember them. We are proud to carry their spirit forward in defense of the United States."
In 2023, the Coast Guard Historians' Office was contacted by the Gasperados Dive Team regarding the Tampa. Over the past 3 years, the all-volunteer team conducted an extensive search for the wreckage.
"We provided the dive team with historical records and technical data to assist in confirming the wreck site," Dr. William Thiesen, Coast Guard Atlantic Area Historian, said. "This included the archival images of the deck fittings, ship's wheel, bell, weaponry, and archival images of the Tampa."
The cutter was originally named the Miami when it launched, but was renamed Tampa in February 1916 because of its close association with the city. The ship was stationed in Tampa, where it served on hurricane duty in the Gulf and Mid-Atlantic during the summer months and on ice patrol in the North Atlantic for part of the year. It participated in the Gasparilla celebration for several years prior to World War I.
"It was so closely associated with the city, it was actually renamed in honor of Tampa," said Rodney Kite-Powell, historian at the Tampa Bay History Center.
When the U.S. entered World War I, the Coast Guard moved 7 revenue cutters to convoy service in the Atlantic, escorting ships traveling between the U.S. and Europe and guarding them against German naval vessels. Tampa was one of those 7 ships.
The ship broke away from its convoy in late September 1918 after running critically low on coal. Sailing alone at dusk, the vessel was silhouetted against the setting sun and spotted by a German U-boat.
"One shot and it sank actually in 3 minutes," Kite-Powell said.
The U-boat crew documented the sinking, noting a secondary explosion, believed to have been caused either by coal dust in the bunkers or depth charges aboard the Tampa.
Nearly 30 of the servicemen aboard were from Florida, with about a dozen from Tampa and the Tampa Bay area.
"Not only was it the single greatest American naval tragedy during World War One, it was certainly that for the city of Tampa and the people of Florida with so many lost all at once," Kite-Powell said.
When news of the loss reached Tampa, it was devastating to residents who had come to regard the ship as part of the city's identity.
"It had become really a part of our fabric," Kite-Powell said. "It doesn't take that long, particularly when you have these young men aboard who are from the city and from the area, to really have these close, deep ties to the ship."
In 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tampa's loss, the city, county, and Tampa Bay History Center commissioned a mural at the History Center commemorating the ship and its role in Tampa's history.
Kite-Powell said the discovery of the wreck provides something meaningful even though the circumstances of the sinking are already well documented.
"What it does is it provides the location of that final resting place for those 130 servicemen who went down with it," Kite-Powell said. "While none of their immediate family are still alive, they still have descendants who are alive, not just in this area but around the world."
Tampa has maintained deep military ties since its founding in the 1830s as a community built around Fort Brooke. Kite-Powell said the Tampa fits squarely within that history.
"Tampa has been a military town since Tampa began," Kite-Powell said. "The Tampa absolutely fits well within our broader military history because of those wonderful connections, and it'll always be a part of that."
The Coast Guard is now developing plans for underwater research and exploration in coordination with its offices of specialized capabilities, historians, cutter forces, robotics and autonomous systems, and dive locker.
Additional information about Tampa's legacy can be found here.
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