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Commissioned on August 1, 1907, she was 503'11" long by 69'7" wide and had a displacement of 13,680 tons. She served as part of Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. The warship's armament consisted of 18 three inch guns, 14 six inch guns both mounted in side turrets, four eight inch guns and two 18 inch torpedo tubes. On September 1, 1914, she was renamed San Diego and served as the flag ship for our Pacific fleet.
On July 8, 1918, the San Diego left Portsmouth, New Hampshire, en route to New York where she suffered a huge hole in her port side amidships, presumably from a German laid mine. At 11:51 AM the Diego sank, only 28 minutes after the initial explosion.
Today, the Diego lies upside down and relatively intact in 110 feet of water, 13.5 miles out of Fire Island Inlet. One of the nicest aspects of this wreck is that it can be enjoyed at various depths. Divers can reach her hull in approximately 65 feet of water while her stern ammo room is in 90 feet and her stern wash out reaches a maximum depth of 116 feet of water. Besides supporting a huge array of fish life, divers can find artifacts such as bullets, portholes, cage lamps, china and brass valves.
Wreck Descriptions provided by
Dan Berg/Aqua Explorers
For more information on this wreck, stop in the shop and pick up the book Dan Berg's, Wreck Valley Vol II, or his Wreck Valley Multi Media Shipwreck CD. We also stock the Wreck Valley Video Series and Wreck Valley U/W Shipwreck Slates which cover many local wrecks.
New to Wreck Diving? Read our
10 Tips to a Successful Wreck Dive