US Coast Guard Historian’s Office has announced a Commemoration Event for the 108th Anniversary of the Sinking of the CG Cutter TAMPA, which will be held at the Coast Guard War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, 25 September from 1000 – 1030.
Cutter Miami, this ship was renamed Tampa in February 1916. On 26 September 1918, while operating in the English Channel, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German Submarine UB-91. All 131 persons on board Tampa were lost with her, the largest loss of life on any U.S. combat vessel during the First World War. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
On 26 September 1918, CGC TAMPA diverged from its 19th convoy to return to Milford Haven to recoal for the next journey back to Gibraltar. At approximately 1945 on that fateful evening, CGC TAMPA was sunk by a single torpedo from German UB-91, with a loss of all hands, including 111 Coast Guardsmen, 4 US Naval personnel, and at least 15 Royal Navy personnel and civilians. This past April, the bow of the CGC TAMPA may well have been located by a British Dive Team.
Please join the Coast Guard to help remember those who sacrificed their lives for the Allied cause.
To learn more about the memorial, please visit https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/explore/monuments-and-memorials/coast-guard