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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Photo #: NH 52399 USS K-8 (Submarine # 39) Underway, circa 1918. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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USS K-8 may be among the submarines seen the the following photograph.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 26 November 2004