L-8

NHHC photo NH 46541 courtesy of the Naval History & Heritage Command.

L-8 was a Lake design built under license at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, ME. It is shown here on April 13, 1916 on the building ways in the old Franklin Shiphouse. It was the first submarine built at a U.S. government owned shipyard. The USN was trying to gain experience in building submarines so that some level of competition could be provided to Electric Boat and Lake. Simon Lake desperately needed the cash the license provided his company, and the Navy gained valuable experience in the complicated art of building submarines.

Photo from the Private Collection of Ric Hedman.

U.S. Navy photo.

Photo from the Private Collection of Ric Hedman.

L-8 was armed with four 18-inch torpedo tubes in the bow. Her primary weapon was the Bliss-Leavitt Mk 6 or Mk 7 torpedo. She could carry eight of the weapons, four in the tubes with one reload each. The large handwheels on each tube opened the breech door. The levers on each tube side would open the outer muzzle doors once the tube was flooded and prepared to fire.








L-8 control room looking aft from the forward starboard corner. The ladder to the conning tower in on the left. Just to the right of the ladder is the diving control station, with a large depth gauge and control wheels for the diving planes. The two large valve handwheels on the right are most likely for the ballast control system.