The successor to an earlier diving boat called Ictineo I, the 46-foot Ictineo II achieved remarkable stability thanks to a system of weights and four pump-operated ballast tanks positioned inside its double-hull.
The result was the Ictineo II, a pioneering craft that has since been called the world’s first engine-powered submarine. Ictineo II: 1865Īfter witnessing the drowning death of a coral diver in 1857, the Spanish political activist and inventor Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol was inspired to build an underwater vehicle to increase worker safety. Many of its problems were later rectified in 1888 with the construction of the French submarine “Gymnote,” a more nimble craft that ran on electric power. Le Plongeur made several successful dives, but its limited air supply and dangerously unstable structural design led to it being removed from active duty in 1872. The air also helped provide the crew with oxygen and served as a means for automatically emptying its ballast tanks. Rather than relying on hand cranks, foot pedals or treadmills to move its propeller, this 140-foot behemoth used a piston engine powered by compressed air stored in tanks. One of the first submarines to use mechanical power, “Le Plongeur” (“The Diver”) was a French-made craft designed by naval officers Simeon Bourgeois and Charles Brun. Despite becoming the first submariners in history to destroy an enemy ship, Dixon and his Confederates all perished. The Union vessel went down in minutes, but the Hunley also sank, possibly because of damage sustained during its attack. The sub was repeatedly salvaged, however, and on February 17, 1864, Lieutenant George Dixon and a crew of volunteers sailed it into Charleston Harbor and successfully drove its torpedo into the side of the sloop-of-war USS Housatonic.
#WORLDS FIRST SUBMARINE TRIAL#
It sank on two occasions during its trial runs, killing a total of 13 crewmen including its namesake, marine engineer Horace Lawson Hunley. Early tests earned the Hunley the nickname the “peripatetic coffin”-and for good reason. Its bow bristled with a 17-foot spar mounted with a torpedo, which would detonate when rammed against an enemy ship. Built privately in Mobile, Alabama, in 1863, it was fashioned from a recycled iron steam boiler and included space for eight crewmen-one to steer, and seven to turn the hand cranks that powered its propeller. Hunley was designed to help the Confederacy escape the stranglehold of Union naval blockades during the Civil War. Witnesses later reported that they could hear a rendition of the Russian national anthem coming from beneath the waves. Its most unusual feat came during the coronation of Czar Alexander II, when it submerged with a four-member brass band aboard. The “Sea Devil” would eventually make more than 130 successful dives before being lost at sea. The ship boasted several technological breakthroughs including multiple ballast tanks for added buoyancy, a crude airlock and a propeller that was powered by crewmen operating an internal treadmill. Petersburg in 1855, he constructed the “Sea Devil,” a 52-foot submersible capable of carrying a crew of a dozen men. Undeterred, the Bavarian inventor continued experimenting and eventually received funding from the Russian government for a new vessel. Wilhelm Bauer built his first submarine in 1850, but only narrowly escaped with his life after it sank in 50 feet of water during a demonstration. When later asked about the Turtle, George Washington replied, “I then thought, and still think, that it was an effort of genius…”ĭrawing of the Sea Devil on the ocean floor. Bushnell later abandoned the submarine project after several other missions also failed to sink an enemy ship, but his invention earned him the respect of his fellow Patriots.
Lee had only received minimal training, however, and after failing to attach a time bomb to the ship’s hull, he aborted the mission and detonated his mine in the open water. In the early morning hours of September 7, 1776, Continental Army soldier Ezra Lee launched history’s first submarine attack when he piloted the Turtle underneath the British warship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. If operated properly, it could approach an enemy ship undetected and use a screw to plant a mine filled with 150 pounds of gunpowder. A pedal-operated water tank allowed it to submerge and surface, and lead ballast kept it upright in the water. During the American Revolution, inventor and Yale graduate David Bushnell provided the colonists with a secret weapon in the form of an experimental submarine called the “Turtle.” This one-man wooden craft relied on a human-powered hand crank and foot treadle for propulsion.
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