USS R-8 (SS-85)

Submarine tender Camden at San Diego, California, in the early 1920s with four R-class submarines moored alongside. Closest to the camera is USS R-8, farthest from it is R-6, and the two submarines between them are unidentified.
History
Name:	USS R-8
Ordered:	29 August 1916
Builder:	Fore River Shipbuilding, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down:	4 March 1918
Launched:	17 April 1919
Commissioned:	21 July 1919
Decommissioned:	2 May 1931
Struck:	12 May 1936
Fate:	Sunk as target, 19 August 1936
General characteristics
Type:	R-class submarine
Displacement:	569 long tons (578 t) surfaced 680 long tons (690 t) submerged
Length:	186 ft 2 in (56.74 m)
Beam:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Draft:	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric
Speed:	13.5 kn (15.5 mph; 25.0 km/h) surfaced 10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h) submerged
Complement:	34 officers and men
Armament:	4 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal deck gun

USS R-8 (SS-85) was an R-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 4 March 1918 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 17 April 1919 sponsored by Ms. Penelope Potter, and commissioned on 21 July 1919 with Lieutenant Commander Philip C. Ransom in command.

Service history

1919–1929

R-8 fitted out at Boston, Massachusetts, during the fall of 1919, proceeded to New London, Connecticut on 5 December, joined other boats of Submarine Division 9 (SubDiv 9), and continued south for winter exercises in the Gulf of Mexico. She operated out of Pensacola, Florida, until returning to New England in April. Given hull classification symbol "SS-85" in July, she departed Newport, Rhode Island on 13 September and two days later arrived at Norfolk for overhaul prior to transfer to the Pacific Fleet. Sea trials in early April 1921 followed, and on 21 April she headed south. Transiting the Panama Canal in May, she arrived at San Pedro, California, her new homeport on 30 June, and for the next two years conducted exercises — individual, divisional and fleet — off the coasts of California and Mexico.

On 16 July 1923, R-8 sailed west for Pearl Harbor, her base for almost eight years — during which she engaged in training and operations with fleet units. In late October 1925, she collided with the minesweeper USS Widgeon (AM-22), suffering the loss of her periscopes, the destruction of her bridge, and damage to her radio antenna supports. In August 1927, she searched for missing Dole Air Race aviators.

1930–1936

Ordered back to the East Coast for inactivation in 1930, R-8 departed Pearl Harbor on 12 December, transited the Panama Canal in mid-January 1931, and arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 February. Decommissioned on 2 May, she was berthed at Philadelphia as a unit of the Reserve Fleet until 1936. On 26 February of that year, while still in a state of preservation, she sank. Later raised, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 May 1936 and on 19 August she was used as a target vessel for an aerial bombing test. Four near-misses with 100 lb (45 kg) bombs sank her 71 mi (114 km) off Cape Henry, Virginia.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS R-8 at NavSource Naval History