HMS E8
{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:HMS E8 1916 IWM HU 057612.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name= E8 |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=HM Dockyard, Chatham |Ship original cost=£105,700 |Ship laid down= 30 March 1912 |Ship launched=30 October 1913 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=18 June 1914 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate= Scuttled, 4 April 1918 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= |Ship displacement=*{{convert|652|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} surfaced
|Ship length={{convert|178|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|15|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*2 × {{convert|800|hp|0|abbr=on}} diesel
|Ship speed=*{{convert|15|kn|lk=in}} surfaced
|Ship range=*{{convert|3000|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|10|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship complement= 31 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=4 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (1 bow, 2 beam, 1 stern) |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
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.
Design
The early British E-class submarines, from E1 to E8, had a displacement of {{convert|652|LT|t}} at the surface and {{convert|795|LT|t}} while submerged. They had a length overall of {{convert|180|ft|m}} and a beam of {{convert|22|ft|8.5|in}}, and were powered by two {{convert|800|hp}} Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two {{convert|420|hp}} electric motors.Akerman, P. (1989). Encyclopaedia of British submarines 1901–1955. p.150. Maritime Books. {{ISBN|1-904381-05-7}}{{cite web|url=http://www.csubmarine.org/html/class/eclass.html|title=E Class|publisher=Chatham Submarines|access-date=20 August 2015|archive-date=13 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150813023119/http://csubmarine.org/html/class/eclass.html|url-status=dead}} The class had a maximum surface speed of {{convert|16|kn|km/h mph}} and a submerged speed of {{convert|10|kn|km/h mph}}, with a fuel capacity of {{convert|50|LT|t}} of diesel affording a range of {{convert|3225|mi|km nmi}} when travelling at {{convert|10|kn|km/h mph}}, while submerged they had a range of {{convert|85|mi|km nmi}} at {{convert|5|kn|km/h mph}}.
The 'Group 1' E class boats were armed with four 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, one in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of eight torpedoes were carried. Group 1 boats were not fitted with a deck gun during construction, but those involved in the Dardanelles campaign had guns mounted forward of the conning tower while at Malta Dockyard.
E-Class submarines had wireless systems with {{convert|1|kW}} power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to {{convert|3|kW}} systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was {{convert|100|ft}} although in service some reached depths of below {{convert|200|ft}}.
Crew
E8′s complement was three officers and 28 men.
Service history
When war was declared with Germany on 5 August 1914, E8 was based at Harwich, in the 8th Submarine Flotilla of the Home Fleets.{{cite book |title=Position and Movements, H.M. Ships, War Vessels and Aircraft, British and Foreign, Parts I. and II., August 1914. |date=1914 |publisher=Admiralty Records |location=London}}
On that morning the destroyers {{HMS|Ariel|1911|6}} and {{HMS|Amethyst|1903|6}} towed E8 and {{HMS|E6}}, respectively to Terschelling. E8 and E6 then made the first Heligoland Bight patrol of World War I.{{cite book|last=Keyes|first=Sir Roger|title=The Naval Memoirs of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes. Vol. 1: The Narrow Seas to the Dardanelles 1910-1915|date=1934|publisher=Thornton Butterworth|location=London|page=68}}
On 23 October 1915, E8 sank the 9,050-ton, three-funnel German armoured cruiser {{SMS|Prinz Adalbert|1901|6}} in the Baltic Sea {{convert|20|nmi|km|0}} west of Libau. As the result of this action the submarine's commander, Commander Francis Goodhart, received the Cross of St. George from Tsar Nicholas II.{{cite book |title=HM Submarines in Camera An Illustrated History of British Submarines |last=Tall |first=J.J |author2=Paul Kemp |year=1996 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |isbn=0-7509-0875-0 |page=32}} During her time in the Baltic, Aksel Berg, who later became a key figure in Soviet cybernetics, was her liaison officer.{{cite web |url=http://www.csubmarine.org/html/boats/crew_lists/e8.html |title=CHATHAM BUILT SUBMARINES: E8 Crew List |publisher=csubmarine.org |access-date=2009-11-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301081421/http://www.csubmarine.org/html/boats/crew_lists/e8.html |archive-date=2012-03-01 }}
Fate
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2024}}
E8 met her fate on 4 April 1918 outside Helsingfors (Helsinki) {{convert|1.5|nmi|km|1}} off Harmaja Light in the Gulf of Finland. She was scuttled by her crew, along with {{HMS|E1||2}}, {{HMS|E9||2}}, {{HMS|E19||2}}, {{HMS|C26||2}}, {{HMS|C27||2}}, and {{HMS|C35||2}} to avoid seizure by advancing German forces who had landed nearby.
E8 was salvaged in August 1953 for breaking up in Finland.
Citations
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Robert |title=Jane's submarines : war beneath the waves from 1776 to the present day |date=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=9780007105588}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|HMS E8|HMS E8}}
{{British E class submarine}}
{{April 1918 shipwrecks}}
{{Coord missing|Baltic Sea}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:E08}}
Category:British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built in Chatham
Category:World War I submarines of the United Kingdom
Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea
Category:Royal Navy ship names
Category:Maritime incidents in 1918