The USS Jacob Jones was commissioned in October of 1918. She was 314 feet long and had a thirty-two-foot beam. This four-stack warship displaced 1,090 tons and could reach a top speed of 35 knots. Armed with four four-inch guns, two three-inch machine guns and twelve twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes, the Jones was a formidable attack ship despite her age.

Under the command of Fregattenkapitän Ernst-August Rehwinkel the U-578 prowled the coast of New Jersey and succeeded in sinking the tanker R.P. Resor off Barnegat Light on February 27, 1942.  Operation Drumbeat, the code name for the German U-boat battles off the American coast was in full rage.

RP Resor sinking off Barnegat Light

Numerous U-boats were deployed to sink allied ships transporting supplies to England. After the sinking, the Jones was quickly dispatched from New York. The destroyer was assigned to patrol the area from Barnegat to Cape May hunting for German invaders. In the early morning of February 28th, 1942, the U-578 attacked the Jones.  Two or three torpedoes struck midship killing most of the crew and officers.  As the stern sank to depth, the detonation of the ship's own depth charges killed nearly all the crew on the surface.