USS O-8
USS O-8 , also known as "Submarine No. 69", was one of 16 [United States United States O-class submarine|O-class submarine|O-class] submarines of the United States Navy commissioned during World War I. She was recommissioned prior to the United States entry into WWII, for use as a trainer.
Design
The O-1-class submarines were designed to meet a Navy requirement for coastal defense boats. The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of, and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.For surface running, the boats were powered by two NELSECO 6-EB-14 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a Electro-Dynamic Company electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the O-class had a range of at.
The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The O-class submarines were also armed with a single /23 caliber retractable deck gun.
Construction
O-8s keel was laid down on 27 February 1917, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 31 December 1917, sponsored by Mrs. Alice C. Burg, and commissioned on 11 July 1918.Service history
During the final stages of World War I, O-8 operated out of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, on coastal patrol duty from Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, to Key West, in Florida. She departed Newport, Rhode Island, on 2 November 1918, with a 20-sub contingent bound for European waters; the duty was cancelled, however, as the Armistice with Germany was signed before the vessels reached the Azores.The end of the "war to end all wars" did not terminate O-8s career; she now operated in a training capacity at the Submarine School, New London, Connecticut.
When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-69.
In 1924, she sailed for duty in Panama, where she was classified as a second-line submarine on 25 July 1924. Reverting to a first-liner on 6 June 1928, she sailed from New London, in February 1931, to Philadelphia, and decommissioned there 27 May 1931.
The imminence of World War II sparked the recall to service. O-8 recommissioned at Philadelphia, on 28 April 1941, with Lieutenant John S. McCain, Jr. taking command. In June, she returned to Submarine School, New London, to train students there until war's end.