SAN DIEGO Lost
19 JULY 1918
SAN DIEGO LOST
Almost as our ten Pennsylvania and Tennessee-class armored cruisers entered service at the turn of the 20th century they were rendered obsolete by advances in technology and dreadnaught design. By the entry of the US into WWI in 1917, our armored cruisers were no longer being detailed to front-line missions. For example, USS CALIFORNIA (ACR-6), newly renamed SAN DIEGO to allow the former name to be given to the battleship BB-13, was shepherding merchant ships from eastern seaboard ports to the convoy assembly points in Nova Scotia.
This morning found SAN DIEGO steaming alone south of Long Island, headed for New York City. She was zig-zagging in calm seas with good visibility. But at 1123, the morning routine was interrupted when a violent explosion lifted her port quarter. Seawater flooded through a large hole blown in her port side just aft of amidships. Two secondary explosions signaled the bursting of her port boiler and the detonation of a magazine. Sailors clamored to their GQ stations–all eyes searching the seas for a periscope. Guns opened on anything even remotely resembling a feather wake.
CAPT Harley H. Christy ordered the starboard engine full ahead even as a list to port rapidly developed. He turned in the direction Fire Island Beach in the hope that the settling cruiser could reach shallow water. All her guns were in action, firing at any wisp upon the surface. Assuming they had been torpedoed by a lurking German U-boat, her port gunners fired until their stations went awash. On the starboard side the firing ended when the advancing list pointed the guns skyward. Men stayed at their posts until the starboard engine flooded, and CAPT Christy became convinced the ship would founder. Christy himself was the last to leave, working his way from the bridge to the boat deck, then over the side to the exposed docking keel. He jumped the last eight feet to the water to the cheers of his crew in the boats, who broke out singing The Star Spangled Banner. SAN DIEGO rolled and sank. All but six of her crewmen were rescued.
SAN DIEGO was the only major US warship lost to combat in WWI. A survey of her wreck by hardhat divers in the days that followed reported her capsized on the bottom with severe hull damage. A salvage effort by the Navy was not attempted. Though the men on the scene were convinced she had been torpedoed, the exact nature of her demise was never determined. The controversy persists today, however German records indicate she was most likely the victim of a floating mine laid by U-156. Her wreck remains a popular sport diving site today.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 25 JUL 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Albert, George J. “The U.S.S. San Diego and the California Naval Militia.” AT: http://www.militarymuseum.org/usssandiego.html, 7 June 2007.
Berg, Daniel. “The USS San Diego Shipwreck.” AT: http://www.aquaexplorers.com/sandiego.com, 7 June 2007.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Though most of SAN DIEGO’s sailors were picked up by other ships in the area, four lifeboats full of sailors managed to row the 8 miles to shore, three landing at Bellport, and one at the Lone Hill Coast Guard Station.
Though The Star Spangled Banner was often used for official occasions and ceremonies from as early as the 19th century, it was not officially adopted by Congress as our National Anthem until 1931.
