HMS G8
 Royal Navy G class submarine (example: HMS G9) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
| |
| Name: | HMS G8 |
| Builder: | Vickers |
| Laid down: | 18 December 1914 |
| Launched: | 1 April 1916 |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1916 |
| Fate: | Lost 14 January 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Surfaced / Submerged: 703 tons / 837 tons |
| Length: | 57.5 m |
| Beam: | 6.92 m |
| Draught: | 4.15 m |
| Propulsion: |
Twin-shaft, 2 × 800 bhp Vickers diesel, 2 × 840 shp electric motors |
| Speed: | Surfaced / Submerged: 14 knots (25.93 km/h)/ 9.0 knots (16.67 km/h) |
| Range: | 44.14 tons of fuel oil giving 3,160 nm surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h). 95 nm submerged, at 3 knots (6 km/h). |
| Complement: | 31 |
| Armament: | Torpedoes: 2 × 18" bow tubes, 2 × 18" beam tubes, 1 × 21" stern tube. 10 torpedoes in total. Guns: 1 × 3" 10 cwt. Mk.1 Elswick Quick Fire High Angle {QFHA}, forward. 1 × 12 pdr. 8 cwt. Mk. 1 gun HA mounting, aft. |
HMS G8 was a British G class submarine of the Royal Navy from World War I. Costing an estimated £125 000, the G Class were twin-shafted vessels, with two eight-cylinder diesels that together generated 1600 bhp, giving a surface speed of 14 knots. Two single armature motors, each of 420 bhp, gave a submerged speed of 9 knots. The class carried 200 cells in two battery tanks, which gave a submerged endurance of 95 miles at 3 knots.
War service
Like the rest of her class, G8's role was to patrol the North Sea in search of German U-boats.
G8 belonged to the 10th Flotilla during her war service, but also operated out of Scapa Flow during most of 1917. Her patrol areas were from North of Shetland to Norway, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Horns Reef. She also did one patrol out of Harwich from 9th Flotilla in August 1916, before joining the Tees Flotilla.
Her two COs where: Lt. Charles de Burgh from 30/06/16 to 30/07/17 and then Lt. John F. Tryon from 30/07/17 to 14/01/18 (date declared lost).
Her last patrol was from Tees on 27/12/1917, leaving with G12 and the destroyer Medea for the Kattgat. She was ordered to start her voyage back on 03/01/18 or possibly 48 hours later, returning to Tees on or around 06/01/18. She didn't return and was never heard from again.
She was officially declared missing on 14/01/1918.
Loss
G8 was lost in the North Sea around the 14/01/1918; the cause remains unknown but it is believed she may have hit a mine.[1]
Discovery and salvage
The G8 was discovered and partly raised by wreck hunters after 93 years at the bottom of the North Sea in 2011.
The wreck was found in 47 m (154 ft) of water off the Danish coast near Jutland. A Danish salvage crew raised the 11-tonne bronze conning tower of the vessel in August of that year.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.