History of the Hunley
The concept of underwater endeavors has been around since the ancient times, the Egyptians used reeds to hunt in the water. The first time the concept was used in a military manner was by Alexander the Great’s army to clear obstructions during the siege of Syracuse in about 413 BC. Both of these instances were very primitive underwater developments, but held the basic concepts of a modern day submarine. They used underwater concealment to achieve a goal and that is the overall main concept of a modern day submarine. In the modern era our idea of underwater boats became a lot more refined and more practical. Many submarine designs started popping up around 1578. The first modern submarine was built in 1605 by Magnus Pegelius his submarine was lost in mud. The first successful submarine was propelled by oars and was invented by Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel many say its design was based on that of an Englishman William Bourne who designed a prototype submarine in 1578. Drebbel was a Dutchman in the service of King James I whose submarine was redesigned two more times from 1620 to 1624.
In 1775 the first propelled self reliant submarine was invented in Connecticut and funded by the United States. It was named Turtle due to its resemblance to a turtle. David Bushnell inventor of Turtle was an American patriot and had his designs approved by George Washington. Turtle was the world’s first submarine to be used in battle. Turtle’s design was simple yet very efficient, it consisted of two wooden pieces secured with two metal bands and was covered in tar. It submerged by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump, and was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers. Turtle was the first recorded use of the screw propeller for ships. It also had two hundred pounds of lead which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. It was manned and operated by one person. It
In 1775 the first propelled self reliant submarine was invented in Connecticut and funded by the United States. It was named Turtle due to its resemblance to a turtle. David Bushnell inventor of Turtle was an American patriot and had his designs approved by George Washington. Turtle was the world’s first submarine to be used in battle. Turtle’s design was simple yet very efficient, it consisted of two wooden pieces secured with two metal bands and was covered in tar. It submerged by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump, and was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers. Turtle was the first recorded use of the screw propeller for ships. It also had two hundred pounds of lead which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. It was manned and operated by one person. It
Bibliography: Online sources: Friends of the Hunley: http://www.hunley.org/. Date of access; April 7, 2008. kellen@hunley.org US Navy Historical Website: http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-3.htm. Date of access; April 7, 2008. webmaster@history.navy.mil Written sources: Bak, Richard. The CSS Hunley: The Greatest Undersea Adventure of the Civil War. Lanham, MD: Cooper Square Press, 2003 Hicks, Bryan, and Schuyler Kropf. Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002 Video sources: National Geographic: Raising the Hunley. Dir. Nicolas Noxon, Robert Guenette. Perf. Burgess Meredith. 2002. VHS Cassette. National Geographic Video, 2002.