Show Notes
The Sinking and Discovery of the USCGC Tampa
On September 26, 1918, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa vanished into the Bristol Channel after a German U-boat torpedo struck her hull, killing all 131 sailors and personnel aboard in what remains the largest single loss of American life in combat during World War I. For over a century, the ship's final resting place stayed a mystery until April 2026, when a British volunteer dive team called Gasperados located her wreckage roughly 50 miles off Newquay, Cornwall, more than 300 feet beneath the Atlantic.
In this video, we cover the full story of the Tampa: her origins as the Revenue Cutter Miami in 1912, her service on international ice patrols, her wartime role escorting convoys through U-boat-infested waters, the night she was lost, and the painstaking three-year search that finally solved one of the Coast Guard's oldest mysteries. 🔹 The Tampa's early years and transformation into a Coast Guard cutter 🔹 Her WWI convoy escort missions across the Atlantic 🔹 The attack by German submarine UB-91 🔹 How the Gasperados dive team and Coast Guard historians identified the wreck 🔹 What the discovery means for the families of the lost crew
Guests for this episode are: 🔹 Dr. Bill Thiessen, Historian for the USCG Atlantic Area 🔹 Dom Robinson, Gasperados Dive Team 🔹 Gary Thomas, CDR Gary M. Thomas, USCG (Ret.)
👉 Dom Robinson's YouTube Channel: @DeepWreckDiver 👉 Gasperados Dive Team: https://www.facebook.com/p/Gasperados-Dive-Team-61579320759276/ 👉 US Coast Guard History: https://www.history.uscg.mil/home/history-program/ 👉 Foundation for Coast Guard History: https://fcgh.org/
#USCGCTampa #CoastGuardHistory #WWIShipwreck #NavalHistory #Shipwreck #WorldWarI #MaritimeHistory #Cornwall #UBoat #podcast #history
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Written, edited, and produced by Rich Napolitano. All episodes, images, and sources can be found at shipwrecksandseadogs.com.
Original theme music by Sean Sigfried. https://www.seansigfried.com
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