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Photo # NH 51135:  USS L-8 in dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 1917.

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

USS L-8 (Submarine # 48, later SS-48), 1917-1925

USS L-8, last laid down but first completed of the four 456-ton L-5 class (Lake type) submarines, was constructed by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. Commissioned in late August 1917, she served along the U.S. East Coast until October 1918, when she started across the Atlantic to begin combat operations out of the Azores. However, World War I ended while the submarine was en route and she soon returned home. Early in 1919 L-8 went to the Pacific, arriving at San Pedro, California, in mid-February. She operated in West Coast waters for more than three years before returning to the Atlantic in mid-1922. USS L-8 was placed out of commission in November 1922 and stricken from the Navy list in March 1925.

Though most sources state that L-8 was subsequently scrapped, her actual fate was more dramatic. On 26 May 1926 the submarine's hulk was sunk as a torpedo target in tests of the newly-developed magnetic influence exploder, a highly-secret and potentially revolutionary device that, during 1942-1943, proved to be an abject failure that greatly harmed the effectiveness of submarine and destroyer forces fighting against the Japanese Navy.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS L-7 (Submarine # 48, later SS-48).


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 51135

USS L-8
(Submarine # 48)

In dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, in 1917.
USS Leonidas (1898-1922) is in the left background, with a gun installed on her forecastle.
Round building in the right center is the dry dock pumphouse. Building 7 is in the right background.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 560 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 80743

Submarines frozen in eighteen inches of ice


At the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, about February 1918. The "boats" are (from left to right):
USS G-4 (SS-26);
USS G-2 (SS-27); and
USS L-8 (SS-48).

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103256

Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922


The Lake type USS L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, USS L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). USS H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard (right) "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed L-5 class, USS L-5 (SS-44) and USS L-6 (SS-45).
Note piloting station details, periscope, and wide deck of the Lake type "L-boat" in the foreground.

Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103255

Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922


The Lake type USS L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, USS L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). USS H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed L-5 class, USS L-5 (SS-44) and USS L-6 (SS-45).
Note the "Y-tube" hydrophone mounted on the bow of the submarine in the foreground.

Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 88457

Magnetic Torpedo Exploder Test


A torpedo equipped with a magnetic influence exploder passes under the hulked submarine L-8 (SS-48), during tests off Newport, Rhode Island, 26 May 1926. This torpedo failed to explode.

Copied from "U.S. Naval Administration in World War II, Bureau of Ordnance: Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I., Volume VII", held by the Navy Department Library, 1978.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 88458

Magnetic Torpedo Exploder Test


The hulked submarine L-8 (SS-48) is sunk by a torpedo equipped with a magnetic influence exploder, in tests off Newport, Rhode Island, 26 May 1926.
This was the only destructive test conducted during 19 years of pre-World War II magnetic influence torpedo exploder development.

Copied from "U.S. Naval Administration in World War II, Bureau of Ordnance: Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I., Volume VII", held by the Navy Department Library, 1978.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 93521-KN (color)

Personalized World War I Victory Medal

Obverse of the medal awarded to Gilman L. Smith, who served in USS L-8 (Submarine # 48). It has the Submarine Service Clasp and is engraved with Smith's name and service details.
The World War I Victory Medal was designed by James E. Fraser.

Collection of Gilman L. Smith.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 515 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 93522-KN (color)

Personalized World War I Victory Medal

Reverse of the medal awarded to Gilman L. Smith, who served in USS L-8 (Submarine # 48). It has the Submarine Service Clasp. Its obverse (see Photo # NH 93521-KN) is engraved with Smith's name and service details.
The World War I Victory Medal was designed by James E. Fraser.

Collection of Gilman L. Smith.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 515 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 46541

USS L-8
(Submarine # 48)

Under construction at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 13 April 1916.
Her bow plating is as yet incomplete.
Note the overhead crane spanning the width of the wooden shiphouse.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 147KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85278

USS L-8
(Submarine # 48)

Launching, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 23 April 1917.
Photograph printed on a color-tinted postal card.

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1977.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 63382

USS L-8
(Submarine # 48)

Afloat immediately after launching, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 23 April 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 565 pixels

 


The incomplete USS L-8 (Submarine # 48) is visible in the background of the following view of the keel laying of another submarine:

Photo #: NH 46543

USS O-1
(Submarine # 62)

Keel laying ceremony, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 26 March 1917.
USS L-8 (Submarine # 48) is under construction in the left background. She was launched on 23 April 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 570 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 24 February 2006