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Salvage firm says it found old submarine off Maryland coast

U.S. Navy submarine The U.S. Navy submarine tender USS Camden (AS-6) in San Diego Harbor during the early 1920s with four R-class submarines alongside. The outboard submarine is USS R-8 (SS-85). The inboard boat is USS R-6 (SS-83). (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command via Wikimedia Commons)

OCEAN CITY, Md. — A salvage company says that it has likely discovered the wreckage of a century-old submarine off the coast of Maryland.

The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday that the USS R-8 was a U.S. Navy sub that was used for target practice as the end of its life in 1936. Atlantic Wreck Salvage said that it identified the wreck using sonar as well as historical records.

The sub was built in 1918 and participated in naval training off the coasts of California and the Gulf of Mexico. In 1930, the submarine became part of the Inactive Naval Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia. It was then used as a target in an aerial bombing.

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