At dawn on February 28, 1942, an undetected German submarine fired torpedoes at the destroyer. The first torpedo struck the ship’s magazine and caused “unbelievable damage.” A second torpedo would cause the ship to sink within forty-five minutes. Later that morning, twelve survivors were spotted in lifeboats by an Army observation plane. By the time they arrived on land in Cape May, there were eleven survivors. When the war ended, German U-boat U-858 was forced to surrender off Cape May on May 10, 1945, at the very same spot where the Jacob Jones was attacked. By December 1942, there was a canal where there once was none. The jetties that exist around the cape were put there for the purposes of creating the canal. Now that you’ve gone over the canal and you’re in town, hop on a bike and head to Cape May Point. That’s where you’ll find most of the World War II relics. One of them, you absolutely can’t miss.
World War II Lookout Tower Technically called a “Fire-Control Tower No. 23,” historian Ben Ridings of Cape May Museums, Arts and Culture (MAC) admits that the “technical” name can be misleading. “We still get this question today- ‘why 54
