HMS E8

The early British E-class submarines, from E1 to E8, had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. They had a length overall of and a beam of , and were powered by two Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two electric motors. The class had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of , with a fuel capacity of of diesel affording a range of when travelling at , while submerged they had a range of at . The 'Group 1' E class boats were armed with four 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, one in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of eight torpedoes were carried. Group 1 boats were not fitted with a deck gun during construction, but those involved in the Dardanelles campaign had guns mounted forward of the conning tower while at Malta Dockyard. E-Class submarines had wireless systems with power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was although in service some reached depths of below . ==Crew==

E8′s complement was three officers and 28 men. ==Service history==

When war was declared with Germany on 5 August 1914, E8 was based at Harwich, in the 8th Submarine Flotilla of the Home Fleets. On that morning the destroyers and towed E8 and , respectively to Terschelling. E8 and E6 then made the first Heligoland Bight patrol of World War I. On 23 October 1915, E8 sank the 9,050-ton, three-funnel German armoured cruiser in the Baltic Sea west of Libau. As the result of this action the submarine's commander, Commander Francis Goodhart, received the Cross of St. George from Tsar Nicholas II. During her time in the Baltic, Aksel Berg, who later became a key figure in Soviet cybernetics, was her liaison officer. ==Fate==

E8 met her fate on 4 April 1918 outside Helsingfors (Helsinki) off Harmaja Light in the Gulf of Finland. She was scuttled by her crew, along with , , , , , and to avoid seizure by advancing German forces who had landed nearby. E8 was salvaged in August 1953 for breaking up in Finland. ==Citations==