USS L-8 (SS-48)

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USS L-8 in 1917
Career USN Jack
Ordered:
Laid down: 24 February 1915
Launched: 23 April 1917
Commissioned: 30 August 1917
Decommissioned: 15 November 1922
Fate: sold for scrap
Stricken:
General characteristics
Displacement: 456 tons surfaced, 524 tons submerged
Length: 165 feet
Beam: 14 feet 9 inches
Draft: 13 feet 3 inches
Propulsion:
Speed: 14 knots surfaced, 10.5 knots submerged
Range:
Complement: 28 officers and men
Armament: one three-inch gun, four 18-inch torpedo tubes
Motto:

USS L-8 (SS-48) was an L-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 24 February 1915 by Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The L-boats designed by Lake Torpedo Boat (L-5 through L-8) 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.

L-8 was launched on 23 April 1917 sponsored by Miss Nancy Gill, and commissioned on 30 August 1917 with Lieutenant J. Parker, Jr., in command.

Following training operations along the East Coast, L-8 prepared for European service. Departing Charleston, South Carolina, on 20 October, the submarine steamed for the Azores to join Submarine Division 6 for patrols against U-boats. She arrived 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 Sea and Central American ports, L-8 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 25 July for the Atlantic, arriving Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 September. The submarine decommissioned there 15 November 1922 and was sold 21 December 1925 and scrapped.

[edit] References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.