2018 Fall Meeting

10-15 December

In July 1918, the 15,000-ton armored cruiser USS San Diego sank off Long Island, New York, losing six sailors from a crew of 1,200. The ship's captain believed a torpedo struck the ship, but no enemy craft had been spotted. German submarines had mined the coast, implicating a mine. Later theories suggested a coal bunker explosion or sabotage, but the source of the explosion remained a mystery. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the loss of the San Diego, the only major U.S. warship sunk in World War I, a multi-partner investigative campaign mapped the wreck, assessed its state of preservation, modeled its sinking, and uncovered the weapon that likely sank it.