SM U-8

SM U-8 sinking after being scuttled on March 4, 1915
History
German Empire
Name:	U-8
Ordered:	8 April 1908
Builder:	Germaniawerft, Kiel
Cost:	2,540,000 Goldmark
Yard number:	150
Laid down:	19 May 1909
Launched:	14 March 1911
Commissioned:	18 June 1911
Fate:	4 March 1915 - Trapped in nets, forced to surface and scuttled under gunfire from HMS Gurkha and Maori at position 50°41′N 0°06′E / 50.683°N 0.100°E / 50.683; 0.100Coordinates: 50°41′N 0°06′E / 50.683°N 0.100°E / 50.683; 0.100.
General characteristics
Class and type:	German Type U 5 submarine
Displacement:	505 t (497 long tons) surfaced 636 t (626 long tons) submerged
Length:	57.30 m (188 ft) (o/a) 43.10 m (141 ft 5 in) (pressure hull)
Beam:	5.60 m (18 ft 4 in) (o/a) 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in) (pressure hull)
Draught:	3.55 m (11 ft 8 in)
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 × Körting 6-cylinder and 2 × Körting 8-cylinder two stroke paraffin motors with 900 PS (660 kW; 890 shp) 2 × SSW electric motors with 1,040 PS (760 kW; 1,030 shp) 550 rpm surfaced 600 rpm submerged
Speed:	13.4 knots (24.8 km/h; 15.4 mph) surfaced 10.2 knots (18.9 km/h; 11.7 mph) submerged
Range:	3,300 nmi (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Test depth:	30 m (98 ft)
Boats & landing craft carried:	1 dingi
Complement:	4 officers, 25 men
Armament:	4 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes (2 each bow and stern) with 6 torpedoes 1 × 5 cm (2.0 in) SK L/40 gun 1 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss gun
Service record
Part of:	I Flotilla 1 August 1914 – 4 March 1915
Commanders:	Kptlt. Konrad Gansser 1–31 August 1914 Kptlt. Alfred Stoß 1 September 1914 – 4 March 1915
Operations:	1 patrol
Victories:	5 merchant ships sunk (15,049 GRT)

SM U-8 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-8 was engaged in the naval warfare and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic.

Trapped in nets, forced to surface and scuttled under gunfire from HMS Gurkha and Maori, in the English Channel, at position 50°56′N 01°16′E / 50.933°N 1.267°E / 50.933; 1.267. In June 2015 the submarine's propeller, which had been illegally removed from the wreck, was recovered and presented to the German Navy. It will be exhibited at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel. In July 2016 the wreck of U-8 was officially designated as a protected site.