K-8 (Submarine No. 39)
1914-1930
(Submarine No. 39: displacement 392 (surfaced), 521 (submerged); length 153'7"; beam 16'8"; draft 13'1" (mean); speed 14.0 knots (surfaced), 10.5 knots (submerged); complement 28; designed depth 200'0"; armament 4 18-inch torpedo tubes; class K-8)
K-8 (SS-39) was launched 11 July 1914, by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif., under subcontract from Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. John W. Lewis, wife of the prospective first commanding officer; and commissioned 1 December at Mare Island, Lt. John W. Lewis in command.
K-8 departed San Francisco on 26 December 1914 in company with K-7 (Submarine No. 38) for training operations along the coast of southern California. Returning to Mare Island on 4 June 1915, she sailed on3 October for duty in the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 14 October. For more than two years she operated with K-3 (Submarine No. 34), K-4 (Submarine No. 35), and K-7, developing and perfecting submarine techniques in diving, torpedo firing, and underwater tactics. Ordered to return to West Coast on 31 October 1917, she reached San Pedro on 12 November and proceeded on 27 November for patrol duty out of Key West. Florida.
Arriving at Key West on 8 January 1918, she conducted patrols from Key West to Galveston, Tex.as, during the remaining months of the Great War [World War I]. Departing Galveston on 21 November, she returned to Key West to continue experimental operations along the Florida coast until she sailed for Philadelphia. Pa., on14 April 1919. Arriving on 21 April, K-8 underwent an overhaul before sailing on 10 November for Key West. Upon arrival on 3 December she began seven months of operations in the Caribbean.
After returning to Philadelphia on 8 June 1920, she was redesignated as SS-39 on 17 July 1920; she proceeded to Annapolis, Md., on 19 January 1921, for training operations at the U.S. Naval Academy. Steaming to Hampton Roads, Va., on 15 February, she continued development operations along the Atlantic coast, ranging from Norfolk to Cape Cod, returning to Annapolis 4 through 14 April , then visiting the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (24--30 May). She conducted experimental maneuvers in the Chesapeake Bay from 4 December to 16 May 1922; trained students out of New London, Conn., from 20 May to 5 September; and returned Hampton Roads on 7 September to resume operations in the lower Chesapeake Bay.
K-8 was decommissioned at Norfolk on 24 February 1923, then was towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 2 September 1924. Stricken froim the Navy Register on 18 December 1930 , she was sold for scrapping on 25 June 1931.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
9 July 2024
