David W. Bagley - World War I

World War I

During the first month of 1917, Bagley moved from Drayton to Jacob Jones (DD-61). By May 1917, he and his ship were conducting antisubmarine patrols and convoy escort missions in the western approaches to the British Isles. Later, his area of operations widened to include the Irish Sea and the English Channel.

On December 6, 1917, Bagley conned his ship out of Brest harbor. At about 1621 that afternoon, the watch spied a torpedo wake. The destroyer maneuvered to avoid the torpedo, but in vain. It struck her starboard side and pierced her fuel oil tank. Though Bagley and his crew worked frantically to save the ship, she went down within eight minutes carrying 64 crewmen with her. Bagley and 37 others made it into the icy water in boats and on rafts, and, thanks to the humanitarian gesture by Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, the U-boat commander who radioed their location to Queenstown, they were all picked up by the 8th. Bagley earned the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his part in handling the situation.

He returned to the United States after the sinking of Jacob Jones and became the prospective commanding officer of Lea (DD-118) then under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He put her into commission on October 2, 1918, but commanded her only until January 1919 when he became the American port officer at Rotterdam in the Netherlands with additional duty as the assistant naval attaché in the American legation at The Hague.