Author Topic: HM Submarine D8 (1911 - 1921)  (Read 1853 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine D8 (1911 - 1921)
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2019, 06:32:08 PM »

HMS D8 was a D Class submarine built by HM Dockyard, Chatham and was the last vessel of the class to be built there before the class was superceded by the superior E Class.


The D Class were a huge improvement over the previous C Class and featured a number of innovations not previously found on British submarines. They featured twin engines for the first time and were the first British submarines to have diesel engines rather than petrol. They were considerably bigger than the previous C Class and having external ballast tanks for the first time in a British submarine, had considerably more internal space. Their diesel engines and larger size made them the first British submarines capable of operating outside UK territorial waters. They also featured a deck gun for the first time and a stern torpedo tube. They were also the first British submarines to be fitted for wireless and have the luxury of a proper toilet for the crew.


Model of HMS D1, D8 would have been identical





HMS D8 was laid down on No 7 slip on Valentines Day 1910. She was launched into the Medway by Lady Barker, wife of Major-General Sir George Barker KCB, Officer Commanding East Coast Defences on 23rd September 1911. After fitting out at Chatham, she commissioned on 23rd March 1912. On completion, she was 163 ft long and 13ft 6" wide across the beam. She displaced 483 tons surfaced and 595 tons submerged and had a crew of 25 men. She was armed with 3 18" torpedo tubes, 2 in the bow and one in the stern, plus a 12pdr (3") deck gun.


In 1914, HMS D8 was part of the submarine force patrolling the German Bight, under the command of Commodore Roger Keyes. Another officer, Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt commanded the destroyer force, both being based in Harwich. Keyes and Tyrwhitt had both noticed that the Germans had fallen into a pattern of patrols whereby a force of cruisers would escort a force of destroyers out into the North Sea to conduct an overnight patrol looking for British ships and would be met at first light again by the cruisers and escorted back to port. Keyes and Tyrwhitt hatched a daring plan to send in a superior force during the darkness to catch the German destroyers as they returned to base. Three British submarines would surface in a position to draw the German destroyers back out to sea while a force of 31 destroyers and 9 submarines would cut them off from their base. Other submarines would be waiting to ambush any larger German ships leaving the Jade estuary to help. The plan was put to the First Lord of the Admiralty, none other than Winston Churchill, who wholeheartedly approved it, with some changes. Thus began the action which was to become known as the Battle of Heligoland Bight, which resulted in an overwhelming British victory. HMS D8's part in this battle was to lay in wait to ambush any German vessels attempting to leave the River Ems along with another D Class boat, HMS D2.


Although D8's part in the battle was only a small one, the battle itself on 28th August 1914 had far wider consequences, particularly in the higher reaches of the German Naval High Command. The Kaiser was furious that his navy had suffered a major defeat so soon in the war. The German Navy had lost three Light Cruisers, a Destroyer, 712 men killed with a further 530 wounded and 336 men taken prisoner by the British. The British on the other hand had lost no ships and 35 dead with 40 wounded. The Kaiser was so incensed that he forbade further forays by the High Seas Fleet without his express consent.


HMS D8 at sea





In October 1914, HMS D8 participated in the Ophelia Incident. The Ophelia was a requisitioned merchant ship supposedly being used by the German Navy as a hospital ship. On 17th October, a number of German torpedo boats had been destroyed by the British cruiser HMS Undaunted during the Battle off Texel. The German Navy sent the Hospital Ship Ophelia, supposedly to search for survivors. British Intelligence learned that the Ophelia was using a wireless set, which aroused suspicion because this was not normal for a Hospital Ship. They were communicating with a German wireless base Norddeich Station. In addition to using wireless, she was transmitting encrypted messages and the use of secret codes by hospital ships was banned under Hague Convention X. HMS D8 was sent to shadow the German ship. When the crew of the Ophelia noticed that they were being shadowed by a British submarine, the ship attempted to flee the area. Under Hague Convention X, hospital ships cannot be attacked or seized, but can be inspected, so Ophelia had no reason to fear the British submarine unless she had something to hide. HMS D8 reported what had been seen and the destroyer HMS Meteor was sent to inspect the ship, as allowed by the Hague Convention. As the Meteor approached on 18th October, Ophelia's commander was seen throwing documents and code books overboard, so the Admiralty seized the ship as a prize-of-war. Of course, the Germans kicked up a huge stink about it, but it came to nothing as the British were able to prove that the Ophelia was up to no good, in that she wasn't there to pick up survivors, she was spying.


By the end of the Great War, HMS D8 was obsolete. Her career came to an end when she was sold for scrap on 19th December 1921 to H. Pound.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.