HMS E8

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E8, returning from a patrol, summer 1916
History
Name: HMS E8
Builder: HM Dockyard, Chatham
Cost: £105,700
Laid down: 30 March 1912
Commissioned: 18 June 1914
Fate: Scuttled, 4 April 1918
General characteristics
Class and type: E-class submarine
Displacement:
  • 665 long tons (676 t) surfaced
  • 796 long tons (809 t) submerged
Length: 178 ft (54 m)
Beam: 15 ft 5 in (4.70 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 1,750 hp (1,305 kW) diesel
  • 2 × 600 hp (447 kW) electric
  • 2 screws
Speed:
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
  • 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) submerged
Range:
  • 3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
  • 65 nmi (120 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement: 30
Armament: 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes (1 bow, 2 beam, 1 stern)

HMS E8 was a British E-class submarine built at Chatham Dockyard. She was laid down on 30 March 1912 and was commissioned on 18 June 1914. She cost £105,700. During World War I she was part of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic.

Service history[edit]

On 5 August 1914, she was towed by the destroyer Ariel to Terschelling along with E6 which was towed by the destroyer Amethyst. E6 and E8 then made the first Heligoland Bight patrol.[1]

On 23 October 1915, she sank the 9,050 ton, 3 funnel armoured cruiser SMS Prinz Adalbert 20 nautical miles (37 km) west of Libau. As the result of this action the submarine's commander, Commander Francis Goodhart, was awarded the Cross of St. George by Tsar Nicholas II.[2] During her time in the Baltic Aksel Berg, who later became the founder of Soviet cybernetics, was her liaison officer.[3]

Fate[edit]

E8 met her fate on 4 April 1918 outside Helsinki 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) off Harmaja Light, Gulf of Finland. She was scuttled by her crew, along with E1, E9, E19, C26, C27, and C35 to avoid seizure by advancing German forces who had landed nearby.

She was salvaged in August 1953 for breaking in Finland.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Keyes, Sir Roger (1934). The Naval Memoirs of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes. Vol. 1: The Narrow Seas to the Dardanelles 1910-1915. London: Thornton Butterworth. p. 68. 
  2. ^ Tall, J.J; Paul Kemp (1996). HM Submarines in Camera An Illustrated History of British Submarines. Sutton Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 0-7509-0875-0. 
  3. ^ "CHATHAM BUILT SUBMARINES: E8 Crew List". www.csubmarine.org. Retrieved 2009-11-22. 
  • Submarines, War Beneath the Waves, from 1776 to the Present Day, by Robert Hutchinson ISBN 978-0-06-081900-2

External links[edit]

  • Media related to HMS E8 at Wikimedia Commons