USS L-8
USS L-8 , also known as "Submarine No. 48", was an [United States United States L-class submarine|L-class submarine|L-class] submarine of the United States Navy. She patrolled off the East Coast before sailing for the Azores, during WWI. She transferred to the West Coast after the war where she worked with experimental torpedoes and underwater detection equipment, before being expended as a target.
Design
The L-class boats designed by Lake Torpedo Boat were built to slightly different specifications from the other L boats, which were designed by Electric Boat, and are sometimes considered a separate L-5 class. The Lake boats had a length of overall, a beam of, and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The L-class submarines had a crew of two officers and 28 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.For surface running, the boats were powered by two Busch-Sulzer diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Lake boats had a range of, at, and, at, submerged.
The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The L-class submarines were also armed with a single /23 caliber on a disappearing mount.
Construction
L-8s keel was laid down on 24 February 1915, by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine. L-8 was launched on 23 April 1917, sponsored by Miss Nancy Gill, and commissioned on 30 August 1917.Service history
Following training operations along the East Coast, L-8 prepared for European service. About this time, she teamed up with the decoy ship in hopes of luring a German U-boat to the surface. This effort, however, was not successful.Departing Charleston, South Carolina, on 20 October 1917, the submarine steamed for the Azores, to join Submarine Division 6, for patrols against U-boats. She arrived in Bermuda, on 13 November, two days after the end of World War I, and was ordered to return to the United States.
After exercises and visits in Caribbean and Central American ports, and arrived San Pedro, California, on 13 February 1919, to join the submarine flotilla on the West Coast.
Remaining there from 1919 to 1922, she experimented with new torpedoes and undersea detection equipment. Following a period of commission, in ordinary, early in 1922, L-8 departed San Pedro, on 25 July, for the Atlantic, arriving Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 September. L-8 was decommissioned on 15 November 1922.