Read previewMore than a century after a German U-boat torpedoed the USS Jacob Jones off the coast of Britain during World War I, a team of divers retrieved the American destroyer's massive brass bell. On December 6, 1917 — eight months after the US joined the fight — the Jacob Jones was attacked by a submarine off the southwest coast of Britain. But the effort to retrieve the Jacob Jones' bell was pursued because of plundering concerns, retired Rear Adm. Sam Cox said in a statement about the mission. AdvertisementMost wreck sites from both World War I and World War II have been stripped of their valuable items; anything brass or bronze is gone, Cox told The Post. The Jacob Jones was the first and only US destroyer lost in the war, according to the US Naval Institute.

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Persons: —, Jacob Jones, Dom Robinson, 9qzRwhGnG4, Sam Cox, Cox Organizations: Service, US, US Naval Institute, Business, Heritage Command, Navy, British Defense Ministry's, Marine Operations, Washington Post, US Naval Institute . Archaeologists, Washington Navy Yard Locations: Britain, Washington , DC, New York, Scilly, Queenstown, Ireland, England