This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location BRISTOL CHANNEL pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The TAMPA was built as a Coastguard cutter for the United States Revenue Service by the Newports News Shipbuilding Company, Virginia, in 1912. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1180 tons displacement; 190ft length x 32ft 6in beam x 44ft draft; triple expansion engine producing 1300ihp, armed with three 6 pounders, four 3in 50 caliber guns and two machine guns. The cutter was commissioned on 18 August 1912 and took up station at Key West, Florida. The cutter alternated between revenue service and monitoring iceberg activity based at Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 6 April 1917, when the United States declared war with Germany, the TAMPA and other Coast Guard cutters were transferred to the Navy. After being fitted with heavier armanent at the Boston Navy Yard, the vessel was assigned to the commanding officer of USS PADUCAH (Gunboat No 18). On 29 September, the TAMPA left in company for Gibraltar where Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Forces was formed. Their mission was to protect convoys from submarine attacks. The TAMPA subsequently escorted 18 convoys, comprising a total of 350 vessels, from Gibraltar to Britain steaming an average of 3566 miles a month. Just three weeks before the TAMPA was lost, Capt Charles Satterlee had received a letter of commendation - "This excellent record is an evidence of a high state of efficiency and excellent ship's spirit and an organization capable of keeping the vessel in service with a minimum of shore assistance. The squadron commander takes great pleasure in congratulating the commanding officer, officers and crew on the records which they have made."
On 26 September 1918, the TAMPA was escorting convoy HG-107 from Gibraltar to Milford Haven. During the late afternoon, TAMPA parted company with the convoy after escorting it into the Irish Sea and proceeded to Milford Haven. Around 20:45, UB-91 sank the TAMPA with a single torpedo with the loss of 131 officers, crew and passengers. Search and rescue efforts over the succeeding three days turned up only a single body and some wreckage. Two other bodies in US naval uniforms later washed ashore. In 1999, the US Coast Guard Service posthumously awarded each TAMPA crewman a Purple Heart.

Sources include:
Canney, D, 1995, U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935, Naval Institute Press.

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, March 2013.