Coast Guard Cutter ‘Tampa’ Wreck Found Off UK Coast After Over 100 Years

A British diving team has located a Coast Guard cutter wreckage that occurred over a century ago, with officials reminiscing on the lives sacrificed that fateful day.

The Coast Guard announced Wednesday that the cutter Tampa was located and confirmed by the British technical diving team Gasperados, at a site roughly 50 miles off Newquay, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, at a depth exceeding 300 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tampa’s origins date back to World War I. In 1918, the vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine in the Bristol Channel and sank in less than 3 minutes, killing all 131 people aboard including 111 Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy personnel, and 16 British Navy personnel and civilians. To this day it is 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,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, in a statement.

“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,” he added.

How the Discovery Occurred

The discovery, according to the USCG, has been years in the making. The service’s historians office was contacted in 2023 by the Gasperados Dive Team, kicking off a three-year search for the remnants of the cutter. Their extensive search finally hit pay dirt.

In 2023, the Coast Guard Historians Office was contacted by the Gasperados Dive Team regarding Tampa. Over the past three years, the all-volunteer team conducted an extensive search for the wreckage.

Dr. William Thiesen, a Coast Guard Atlantic area historian, said that the Gasperados team was provided with historical records and technical data to assist in confirming the wreck site. That included archival images of the deck fittings, ship’s wheel, bell, weaponry, and archival images of the Tampa.

“Not every day that our Dive Team gets a name check from a branch of the United States Armed Forces,” the diving team posted on Facebook. “Finding TAMPA didn’t just happen last weekend. This was the tenth trip to dive possible targets and everyone—whether skipper, crew, researcher, liaison or diver—played a part. We’re still buzzing. We did it!”

Credit: American Battle Monuments Commission

Team Leader Steve Mortimer said in a statement: “This discovery is the result of three years of research and exploration. Tampa is of huge importance to the United States and the relatives of everyone who died that day. Their final resting place is known at last.”

Military.com reached out to Gasperados for additional remarks.

Coast Guard historians say that Tampa, originally known as Miami, was initially supposed to be built at the Norfolk Navy Yard. However, the Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company—a fixture in shipbuilding at that time and since 1886, and known for its government contracts—won the bid.

At 190 feet and 1050 tons, Tampa was built along the lines of two older Revenue cutters, TAHOMA and YAMACRAW. The contract was signed on May 26, 1911.