USS ''R-8'' (SS-85) was an ''R''-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Construction and commissioning

''R-8''′s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 4 March 1918 by the

Fore River Shipbuilding Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In ...

Company,

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

. She was launched on 17 April 1919, sponsored by Ms. Penelope Potter, and commissioned on 21 July 1919.

Service history

1919–1929

''R-8'' fitted out at Boston, Massachusetts, during the fall of 1919, proceeded to

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

on 5 December, joined other boats of Submarine Division 9 (

SubDiv A submarine squadron (SUBRON) is a naval formation or unit in such states such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia/Soviet Union. In France the equivalent unit is the ' (ESNA), part of the French submarine forces (and before the Second ...

9), and continued south for winter exercises in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. She operated out of

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

, until returning to

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in April. Given

hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

"SS-85" in July, she departed

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

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 The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

in May, she arrived at

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

, her new homeport on 30 June, and for the next two years conducted exercises — individual, divisional and fleet — off the coasts of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. On 16 July 1923, ''R-8'' sailed west for

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, 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 A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

, suffering the loss of her

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

s, the destruction of her

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, and damage to her radio antenna supports. In August 1927, she searched for missing

Dole Air Race The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a deadly air race across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, California to Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii held in August 1927. There were eighteen official and unofficial entrants; fifteen of ...

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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, on 9 February 1931. Decommissioned on 2 May 1931, she was berthed at Philadelphia as a unit of the Reserve Fleet until 1936. On 26 February 1936, while still in a state of preservation, she sank. Later raised, she was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 12 May 1936 and on 19 August 1936 she was used as a target vessel for an aerial bombing test. Four near-misses with bombs sank her off

Cape Henry, Virginia Cape Henry is a cape (geography), cape on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake ...

Wreck

Her wreck was initially not found. Per Eastern Search and Survey "Our research effort began to bear fruit after several iterations of requests to the National Archives. Station logs for the Philadelphia Navy Yard identified the USS CORMORANT (AM-40) as the vessel that towed the 1936 Sub out to be scuttled. CORMORANT’s log provided the sinking location as being far offshore from the VA-NC border in ~4,300’ of water: nearly 70 miles south of where it was previously thought to be. However, in December 2020, the remains of R-8 were discovered off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. The vessel sank there in 1936, after being used for target practice by bombers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:R-08 (SS-85) United States R-class submarines United States submarine accidents Maritime incidents in 1925 Maritime incidents in 1936 Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1919 ships Ships sunk as targets Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia Group