Trying to Identify the Submarine in this 1916 Newspaper Article

[brimacombe]

Hello all!

I'm trying to identify the submarine referred to in the attached newspaper article of May 1916 - can anyone help?

A copy of the article was amongst the papers of an ERA submariner who apparently retold the story to family up to the time of his death in the late '50's.  Referring to his service record, this would (possibly) make the mentioned vessel H8 - but I'd like to be able to either confirm or discount this through the help and vast knowledge available from forum members.

The record (mentioned above) can be found below (in my earlier post)

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/307141-10-gratuity-for-raising-submarine-but-whenand-which-one/#comment-3243016

Hoping someone just might be able to help.

With grateful thanks!

[brimacombe]

My assumption that it might be H8 appears to have been correct - 

"On 22 March, 1916, H8 struck a stray British mine while dived on patrol off the Dutch coast. Though badly damaged forward, the captain and crew managed to surface the boat and made a safe passage overnight to base at Harwich."

Would be grateful for any additional information....

T.I.A.

[KizmeRD]

1 hour ago, brimacombe said:

Would be grateful for any additional information....

On the morning of March 22, H8 (commanded by a Canadian, Barney Johnston) was at periscope depth patrolling off the coast of Holland, when a scraping noise was heard near the starboard bow. Almost instantly, a tremendous explosion battered the submarine and seawater started pouring in causing it to descended uncontrollably to the bottom. H8 settled bow-down in ninety feet of water, yet astonishingly twenty-six hours later H8 made it safely back to Harwich.

MB

Edited 24 October , 2023 by KizmeRD

[brimacombe]

Thanks so much for the additional info MB - really appreciate it.

Does anyone have a copy of 'The Two Barney's' by Norman Hacking or 'Submarine Sailor' by J. David Perkins?  Both of which describe the career of B. L. Johnson - Commanding Officer of H8 during the incident (for which he was awarded the DSO) - I'd love to know what either book has to say about the incident.

 

Thanks Again!

[The Treasurer]

Remembered that the incident and background is described in the book about the adventures of RN submarines in WW1 by Johnson's fellow Canadian submariner William Guy Carr; By Guess and by God. Secondhand copies are readily available for reasonable prices and the book is a good read. The mine exploded against the forward starboard hydroplane, rather than the hull. The forward internal bulkhead held, otherwise H.8 would have been doomed.

Edited 26 October , 2023 by The Treasurer

[KizmeRD]

Following Internet Archive link includes an in-depth account of the mine incident (Through a Canadian Periscope, Julie Ferguson)

https://archive.org/details/throughcanadianp0000ferg/page/58/mode/1up

MB

[brimacombe]

Thanks guys - funnily enough MD, I've just this moment finished reading the account in Through a Canadian Periscope, which gives a fairly good account of the event.  I'm unsure of the purported attack in a German destroyer (which appears in the account in Through a Canadian Periscope) - orders specifically stated that vessels were to be observed but not attacked.  Another account I have read states that H8 dived because it was the subject of an attack be the destroyer. 

Thanks again guys for your interest and input, really aprpeciated