![]() ![]() By the time of her final attack, the Hunley’s spar was located at the bottom of the bow. Once there, it was discovered that the towed torpedo was neither practical nor safe, and it was instead placed on a seventeen-foot-long iron spar. Hunley brought to Charleston to operate against the U.S. ![]() In July 1863 the siege of Charleston began when U.S. A bellows, between the captain and crew, was connected to a snorkel and pumped fresh air into the submarine. This method of propulsion could move the submarine through the water as fast as four knots. The remaining seven crew members, in the vessel’s midsection, operated a hand crank connected to the propeller. A captain at the bow served as the navigator and operated the dive planes, rudder, and pump. It was originally designed to pull a “torpedo” (mine) behind, dive under a ship, and have the torpedo explode on contact. Ballast tanks located in the bow (front) and stern (rear) filled with water to submerge the submarine to resurface, a pump forced the water out. The iron vessel was forty feet long, five feet tall, and four feet wide. This was the first successful sinking of an enemy ship in warfare by a submersible in the history of the world.Ĭonstructed in Mobile, Alabama, the vessel was named for Horace L. Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic about four miles off Sullivan’s Island. ![]() On the night of February 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine H. ![]()
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