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On the morning of July 19, 1918, the USS San Diego was sailing off Fire Island when an explosion ripped through the Navy cruiser.
Within 28 minutes, the 500-foot warship had sunk beneath the Atlantic, taking six sailors with it.
The cause remained a mystery for nearly a century, until Navy researchers concluded in 2018 that the ship likely struck a mine planted by a German submarine during World War I.
Today, the San Diego rests upside down in roughly 110 feet of water, one of hundreds of shipwrecks scattered along Long Island’s coastline.
And according to a new national analysis, Suffolk County has more charted shipwrecks than a dozen entire coastal states.
The study, conducted by boating reservation platform BoatBooker using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nautical chart data, identified 347 shipwrecks off Suffolk County, more than the entire coastlines of Washington, Connecticut, Maine or Rhode Island.
New York ranked second nationally with 1,510 charted wrecks, trailing only Florida’s 2,302. Louisiana finished third with 1,478.
Long Island’s waters have long been nicknamed “Wreck Valley” by scuba divers, a reference to the many vessels lost to storms, collisions and other maritime disasters over the centuries.
“Long Island’s ‘Wreck Valley’ nickname has been passed around dive boats for years, and it’s no exaggeration,” said Vukan Simic, CEO of BoatBooker. “Suffolk County alone has more charted shipwrecks than a dozen entire states.”
The analysis also found that 72% of New York’s charted wrecks remain classified as navigation hazards, meaning they could pose risks to passing vessels.
BoatBooker analyzed NOAA nautical charts across 23 coastal states, removing duplicate records and assigning wrecks to their nearest counties.
The findings are the company’s own analysis, not official NOAA conclusions, a press announcement reads.
Top: A 1920 painting by Francis Muller depicts the USS San Diego sinking off Fire Island on July 19, 1918, after striking a German mine. Six sailors died. (Credit: Francis Muller/U.S. Navy Art Collection)
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