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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 68848:  USS K-8 in drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1915-1916

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS K-8 (Submarine # 39, later SS-39), 1914-1931

USS K-8, last of the eight 392-ton K-1 class submarines, was built at San Francisco, California. Commissioned at the beginning of December 1914, she operated along the West Coast until October 1915, when she voyaged to Pearl Harbor to begin two years' of service in Hawaiian waters. K-8 returned to the mainland in November 1917 and was soon sent through the Panama Canal to begin World War I patrol work in the Gulf of Mexico. Following the end of the conflict in November 1918, the submarine was active in Atlantic coastal waters and in the Caribbean area. Among her assignments were training duties at the U.S. Naval Academy and at the Groton, Connecticut, Submarine School. USS K-8 was placed out of commission at Norfolk, Virginia, in February 1923. Later towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, she was laid up there until sold for scrapping in June 1931.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS K-8 (Submarine # 39, later SS-39).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 69831

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Off San Francisco, California, 1 December 1914.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 65149

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Underway circa late 1914, probably in San Francisco Bay, California.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100767

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39), in center

Recovering a torpedo, circa 1915, while serving on the Pacific Coast.

Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1986

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 530 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68848

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

In drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1915-1916.

Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 76058

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Tied up alongside USS K-5 (Submarine # 36), prior to World War I.
Fine-screen halftone reproduction, published in "Sea Power" magazine, May 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 143KB; 555 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52399

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Underway, circa 1918.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52202

USS K-8
(SS-39)

Underway with crewmen standing in formation topsides, during the early 1920s.
The flying boat overhead appears to have # A-2344 on the side of its hull. It may be a modification of the Curtiss F-type.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100348

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39), in center

With two other submarines, at San Diego, California, circa 1915. Two destroyers and two cruisers are visible in the distance.
Photo printed on a stereograph card, published by the Keystone View Company.

Donation of Louis Smaus, 1985

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 122KB; 625 x 675 pixels

A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 100348-A

Online Image of stereo pair: 84KB; 675 x 365 pixels

Note:
See Photo # NH 100348 (extended caption) for the text printed on the reverse of the original stereo card, giving an immediate post-World War I popular evaluation of submarine warfare.

 
Photo #: NH 52200

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Exterior conning station and periscopes.
These long and short 2½ to 5-inch diameter Kollmorgen Type C periscopes were obtained under a contract dated 23 October 1916 and subsequently installed at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. The photograph may have been taken there in late 1916 or in 1917.
The evaluation of both of these non-housing periscopes (which had Submarine Periscope Registry Numbers 167 for the shorter unit, and 168 for the longer) was "A fairly good instrument".
Note the submarine's radio antenna mast at the after end of the fairwater.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52201

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Exterior conning station and periscopes.
These long and short 2½ to 5-inch diameter Kollmorgen Type C periscopes were obtained under a contract dated 23 October 1916 and subsequently installed at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. The photograph may have been taken there in late 1916 or in 1917.
The evaluation of both of these non-housing periscopes (which had Submarine Periscope Registry Numbers 167 for the shorter unit, and 168 for the longer) was "A fairly good instrument".

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 66742

USS K-8
(Submarine # 39)

Afloat immediately after she had been launched at the Union Iron Works shipyard, San Francisco, California, 11 July 1914.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


USS K-8 may be among the submarines seen the the following photograph.

Photo #: NH 42542

USS Alert
(1875-1922)

Tied up at Kuahua Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, while serving as a submarine tender, 22 August 1917.
Submarines alongside Alert include, from inboard to outboard, K-4 (Submarine # 35), K-3 (Submarine # 34) and either K-7 (Submarine # 38) or K-8 (Submarine # 39).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 26 November 2004