CSS H.L. Hunley

CSS H.L. Hunley Story

CSS H.L. Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship underwater, which occurred on February 17, 1864, against the propeller USS Housatonic.

This historic operation was recorded during the Civil War, when the Hunley - a submarine classification vessel - served with the Confederate Navy (South).

Horace Lawson Hunley was born on December 29, 1823, into a farming family in Sumner County, Tennessee. During the War of 1812, his father John fought against the British at the Battle of New Orleans with General Andrew Jackson. By 1830, things were getting tough in Tennessee, so the family was forced to move to New Orleans, where John became a cotton broker.

Life became increasingly challenging when young Horace lost his father, but it got even better when Horace was accepted into the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University). Horace graduated in law in 1849.

He then opened a law firm in New Orleans and worked part-time at the Customs House (a commercial center for cotton, sugar cane and tobacco brokers). Business was so good that Horace was able to buy 200 acres of sugar cane plantations and some land in Texas at Assumption Parish. By 1850 he had become a wealthy landowner and had purchased eight slaves to work on houses and plantations.

Horace took a job as a customs broker with an annual salary of $1,500 to increase his wealth. His sale of the plantation's sugar cane and some legal fees only added to his personal wealth.

Inventor

Horace supports inheritance from America as succession sentiments heat up between the rural South and the mechanized North. Horace himself never intended to join the Confederate Army or the Navy, as his affection for the Southern cause did not put him on the path to enlistment.

His patriotism was his work with James McClintock and Baxter Watson and their co-ownership of a machine shop, which led to the development of the "submarine torpedo boat". Whether Hanley, McClintock or Watson first came up with the idea of ??formally building a submarine, we'll never know.

In mid-1861, the three partners set out to do the work for simple fame, profit, andof courseSouthern patriotism.

Being the first to build a working submarine will bring the three partners the glory they want, and profits will come from sales to the Confederate government as well as sinking Confederate ships - the Confederate paid for sinking a submarine Over $50,000 Union Ship. At the start of the war, the North sent 83 warships, ranging from the heavy "battleship" type with 84 guns to the brig with only 6 guns.

When the war broke out, there were about 10 armed warships and some merchant ships in the South, donated by later countries. It was clear that the South was at a serious disadvantage at sea.

Civil War Strategy

On April 12, 1861, when Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, the American Civil War quickly began at sea. The Federal Navy armed some large merchant ships to increase the number of warships of the Federal Navy.

They also built iron armor to prevent the South from getting help from British and Allied pirates from the sea. General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief of the Union Army, accepted the Anaconda Navy plan as a strategy to "stifle" southern supplies.

The plan calls for the blockade of all southern ports along the 3,500-mile coastline along the U.S. East Coast, around the Florida peninsula and in Texas.

The plan also called for the German Navy to use ironclad and gunboat advances on all major southern rivers, splitting the south in two, effectively splitting the Allies.

The Union Navy needed ships, but it would take two years to build just one, so they were told to capture as many Union ships as possible. Upgrades were soon installed to make the sailboat steam powered by installing a boiler and propeller. Some tall, wooded ships have iron plates bolted to existing wooden hulls, effectively making them "iron armor".

Because war nurtured innovation, this approach proved to be the norm in the resource-starved Southa second ship was better than nothing. In this wartime environment, one of the ideas for trying to break the federal blockade of the east coast was the submarine torpedo boat.

In October 1862, the Confederate Congress passed legislation establishing the Army Torpedo Bureau and the Navy Submarine Battery Service. Surprisingly, the Federal Navy did not establish such a service until 1869.

CSS Pioneers

Work on the first submarine with Hunley led to the start of the "Pioneer" in July 1861. The partners shared the project with Horace Hunley, who worked on the problem of maintaining forward and backward motion and the power needed to propel the boat. The most knowledgeable engineer of the three was McClintock, who worked on the design of the submarine's hull. Horace himself, a visionary and businessman for the group, has connected with a group of investors interested in the project. Problems had to be overcome, the main one being the supply of fresh air for the crew.

Another is how the crew navigates the underwater environment. How does the captain set the course when submerged and visibility is extremely low or impossible? How will the crew control speed or maintain course while moving in unstable waters? How to control the dive and ascent of the boat?

The three partners worked conceptually for hours to develop solutions to these problems and hired artisans with practical knowledge to work on the project.

The operational problems of the ship are of great concern, especially in situations where life is at risk. In the winter of 1862, Hunley, Watson, and McClintock were about to complete the 35-foot-long submarine Pioneer. The casing is made from quarter-inch iron sheet cut from an old boiler.

The center section of the vehicle is cylindrical, 10 feet long and 4 feet high, with a pronounced tapering at the bow and stern. A hatch on the top of the craft is mounted on a small conning tower, allowing two or three crew members to board and disembark as needed. A propeller propelled the vehicle and was rocked by the two men. The plan calls for vertically positioned rudders and side-mounted dive planes designed to mimic the pectoral fins of fish.

Controls were taken by the captain, who knelt in the middle, raised his head in the conning tower for visibility, and freed his hands to operate the rudder and dive the plane.

The purpose of the ship was to launch torpedoes, which in itself was another problem to overcome. How big should the device be and how can it be delivered and detonated without endangering the crew and the ship? Two methods are discussed. The first is a simple torpedo or mine attached to a spar attached to the bow. The submarine would pierce the spar into the wooden hull of the hull and retreat, leaving the torpedoes in the enemy's hull.

The second, which proved to be the more popular route, involved towing a torpedo with a rope behind the submarine and diving under the boat. The submarine would then pass the enemy target and drag the torpedo into the bottom of the enemy hull. Contact can cause an explosion.

The partners chose the towing method because it requires less technology and costs less.

The boat was ready for trials and was towed about three miles to Lake Pontchartrain. Early testing led to tragedy when the ship sank in 12 feet of water, killing all the crew inside. Some reports say two slaves drowned when they were unable to escape from a small hatch. The deaths saddened the partners, but they worked hard to hide the tragedy from the public, fearing that the Confederate government might abandon the project.

After being lifted and some modifications made, the builder deemed the Pioneer to be seaworthy, although she continued to leak and had navigational issues.

The inventor thought it could be used on lakes rather than in oceans. Two league goals are on the lake - USS New London and USS Calhoun. A letter was sent to the Confederate government asking for a privatization license to capture or destroy ships at war with the Confederacy.

This was officially released on March 31, 1862. This officially makes her a "CSS Pioneer". However, a few weeks later, Union forces advanced toward New Orleans, and the Union Navy decided that CSS Pioneer had to be sunk to avoid capture.

The partners gathered their documents and tools and moved to Mobile, Alabama to continue building the next submarine.

American Diver

Horace Hunley, James McClintock and Baxter Watson arrived in Mobile in the spring to find new backers for the next phase of the project. The inventor has set up a workshop with owners Thomas Park and Thomas Lyons at the Park and Lyons machine shop near Mobile Bay.

The group met with Confederate General Murray, who saw the prospect of a new secret weapon. Instead of providing any financial support, he assigned CSA Lieutenant Alexander to oversee the project. In January 1863, a large ship named "American Diver" was built and ready for port trials. At 36 feet long, 4 feet high and 3 feet wide, it's a foot less than the previous CSS Pioneer.

Her shape is oval, and she has three 12-foot sections and a midsection, as well as tapering at the bow and stern. She showed hope, but sank in a storm in Mobile Bay, nearly losing her crew of 8. The Federal Navy expressed concern and decided not to make fun of them.

Partners face a major problem after losing CSS Pioneer and American Diver -- both with $15,000 in investor funding. Edgar Singer, a Texan in the sewing machine family, and A. Whitney, who made money from torpedoes for the Union Navy, found new investors. Concerned about spies, the group moved their ship work to the now-abandoned former seamen's Bethel Church and began construction of a third and final ship, known as the "fish ship."

Torpedo Boat

The crew cabin hull requires 40 iron plates. The height of the crew section was increased and cast iron caps were used to cover the bow and stern. The designers wanted the ship to move easily in the water so that the boards wouldn't overlap each other like ironclad ships of the time. Metal straps are used to hold the panels together with the rivets inside the boat. She is 5 feet longer than CSS Pioneer and 4 feet longer than American Diver.

Pioneer uses 2 or 3 crew members, American Diver uses 5 crew members, and the enlarged size of this new ship now allows 8 crew members.

Both front and rear hatches are limited to 20 inches in width and are approximately 18 feet apart. Each crew member must enter and exit the vehicle individually with their arms raised above their heads. Hatches on the conning tower can be locked from inside the ship and have rubber seals to prevent leaks. Commanding the boat, the captain controls a lever-like device attached to the bottom control rudder, and a second lever controls the external dive plane. He sat on a short wooden bench and commanded from the front of the crew compartment.

The captain can also stick his head out in the forward conning tower, through four small 2-inch diameter glass windows, two set forward, one to port and one to starboard. The aft conning tower has two port windows, one on port and one on starboard. There are 12 lights on the boat, which are also small glass openings running along the length of the boat. This allows some natural light into the vehicle.

There is an additional light port on top of each hatch.

Propulsion is done by seven men who turn a propeller by hand cranking a shaft. The crew sat on an 18-foot narrow board that ran along the port side, while the men sat with their backs against the inner hull. The crew turned a crank mounted on the starboard side in a circular motion, which somewhat mimicked the movement of a short-stroke rudder. The crank or drive shaft is connected to a differential gear, which increases the number of revolutions of the propeller, thus increasing the speed. These people were all sitting on one side of the boat, causing weight distribution problems, but the cramped conditions required these people to lean on the centerline of the boat to starboard.

The physics of this weight transfer, perhaps design or luck, corrected the boat. Once these people are seated, the space does not allow anyone to move around the vehicle.