Divers could affix mines to a target, then return and detonate them by connecting the mine's insulated copper wire to a battery inside the vessel. The boat had a forward airlock, and was the first operational submarine with the capability for a diver to leave and return while both remained submerged. Air was supplied from the surface by two tubes with floats, connected to an air pump located inside the submarine it was the first operational submarine to have an air purifying system. On 3 July 1862, the Washington Navy Yard had the paddles replaced by a hand-cranked propeller, which improved its speed to about four knots. For propulsion, she was equipped with 16 hand-powered paddles protruding from the sides. "It was made of iron, with the upper part pierced for small circular plates of glass, for light, and in it were several water tight compartments". The boat was about 47 feet (14 m) long, with a beam of 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) and height of 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m). In the autumn of 1861, the Union Navy asked the firm of Neafie & Levy to construct a small submersible ship designed by the French engineer Brutus de Villeroi, who also acted as a supervisor during the first phase of the construction (de Villeroi had designed and built submarines in France and one after immigrating to the United States). Hunley.Ĭonstruction Brutus de Villeroi's first submarine in 1861, which served as inspiration for Alligator During the Civil War the Confederate States Navy would also build its own submarine, H. Navy submarine, and was active during the American Civil War (the first American submarine was Turtle during the Revolutionary War, and was operated by the Continental Army, vice Navy, in 1776 against British vessels in New York harbor). USS Alligator, the fourth United States Navy ship of that name, is the first known U.S. It is believed that up to 20 copies of the David may have been produced by Confederate shipyards before the end of the conflict, but all were likely captured or lost by the time the war's end in 1865.Contemporary artist's rendering of AlligatorĤ ft 8 in (1.42 m) (excluding oars) height of hull 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)ġ862: 2 knots (3.7 km/h) 1863: 4 knots (7.4 km/h)ġ2 - One officer, one helmsman, one or two divers, and 8 oarsmen The David eventually got back underway and made further (unsuccessful) attacks on Union ships. The metal-hulled USS New Ironsides, meanwhile, was unharmed. The water entered the David's smokestack and put out its boiler fire, rendering the vessel dead in the water. The David successfully rammed its spar torpedo into the New Ironsides but soon afterward was swamped by the massive plume of water generated by the explosion. In fact, during the David's first deployment in October 1863, a lookout on its target, the USS New Ironsides, spotted it just as it was about to attack. At night or in low-visibility conditions, it was hard to spot, but not impossible. The body of the 50-foot-long vessel lay beneath the waterline, its smokestack extended several feet above the waves. The steam-powered David wasn't a submarine in the truest sense. The attacker would then hopefully back away, detaching the mine and unspooling a trigger cable that detonated the device automatically from a safe distance. The submarine attacked by ramming its target, hopefully embedding the barbed mine in its hull. Technically, they were contact mines with barbed points attached to a long boom extending from the front of the vessels. The "spar torpedoes" Confederate submersibles used had little in common with the torpedoes we know today. The weapons that they carried, however, were very different. Still, by the standards of the time, they were highly advanced vessels that introduced many features that modern-day submariners would recognize, including ballast tanks and movable "hydroplanes" for directional control. Both submarines could manage a speed of only around four knots (about 4.5 mph). Of the Hunley's eight-man crew, seven powered its single propeller by hand, while the Alligator was originally powered by 16 hand-rowed oars before getting upgraded to a hand-cranked propeller. Hunley and the Alligator were constructed from iron and wood, and both were human powered.
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