The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1941)
Background of news –
U.S. Navy losses in World War
The United States Navy lost only one destroyer during the last war. That was the Jacob Jones (1,205 tons), sunk by the German submarine U-53 on Dec. 6, 1917 – exactly eight months after the United States declared war – 25 miles southeast of Bishop’s Rock, the extreme southwesternmost point of England. The entire complement of two officers and 62 men was lost. The U-53 was the same submarine which had operated off Newport, RI, in the fall of 1916. Another U.S. destroyer, the Cassin (1,139 tons), was hit by a torpedo from a submarine 20 miles south of Ireland on Oct. 15, 1917, but was salvaged. One man was killed and nine were wounded.
Nine other vessels of the U.S. Navy were sunk – one troop-transport, four cargo vessels, one Coast Guard vessel, one converted yacht, one tank ship, one motor launch. Four others were hit by torpedoes, but managed to make port – two transports, one cargo vessel, one converted yacht. All three of the transports were on their way back from France.
The most important vessel of the Navy lost during the war was the armored cruiser San Diego, which hit a mine (presumably laid by a submarine) off Long Island. A large collier, the Cyclops, was lost from an undetermined cause; no trace of her has ever been found. Other U.S. Navy vessels sunk or damaged from all other causes – collision, stranding, mines, internal explosion, leaking, etc. – numbered 54, mostly small craft. The total loss of life in the Navy during the war was 1,142.
One reason for the small loss in U.S. destroyers during the last war was that the German submarines as a rule evaded direct conflict with destroyers escorting convoys.
Three months after the United States declared war, 34 American destroyers were operating from European bases. Presumably there were almost all then available. Destroyers take time to build, and Admiral Sims, the American naval commander during the war, reported that at the time of the Armistice, only 79 American destroyers were on duty in European waters, about one-fifth of the number of British destroyers. To hunt down submarines, the United States relied largely on specially-constructed, small and speedy submarine chasers.
On Oct. 1, 1941, the Navy had 171 destroyers, one now sunk. The number under construction was 193.
In the last war, most German submarines had a much narrow cruising radius than the German submarines of today (the U-53 was an exception). The official account of the U.S. Navy Department on American naval participation in the war declares:
Many convoys had to be met as far as 300 miles [!] from the [European] coast.
This same official account declared Germany was able to “maintain continuously on station” only about 12 submarines.
Germany was estimated to have lost some 200 during the war. On Jan. 1, 1941, according to semi-official estimates, Germany has 120 submarines, with 180 more under construction.