SM ''U-8'' was one of the 329

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s serving in the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Service history

''U-8'' was engaged in the

naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...

and took part in the

First Battle of the Atlantic The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I (sometimes called the "First Battle of the Atlantic", in reference to the World War II campaign of that name) was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atla ...

Fate

Trapped in nets, forced to surface and scuttled under gunfire from and , in the English Channel, at position . In June 2015 the submarine's propeller, which had been illegally removed from the wreck, was recovered and presented to the German Navy. It will be exhibited at the

Laboe Naval Memorial The Laboe Naval Memorial (a.k.a. ''Laboe Tower,'' German: ''Marine-Ehrenmal Laboe'') is a memorial located in Laboe, near Kiel, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally memorialized the World ...

near

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. In July 2016 the wreck of ''U-8'' was officially designated as a protected site. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

Summary of raiding history

Kaiserliche Marine Postcard of SM U8 in harbour 1909-1915

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

'U-8 Off South Varne Buoy, English Channel: Undesignated Site Assessment'

Historic England project to research First World War Submarines
* {{DEFAULTSORT:U0008 World War I submarines of Germany 1911 ships Ships built in Kiel U-boats commissioned in 1911 U-boats sunk by British warships World War I shipwrecks in the English Channel Type U 5 submarines U-boats scuttled in 1915