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On August 8, 2000, the encrusted and long-lost wreck of a Civil War warship was raised out of the sea off the coast of South Carolina. It had been on the sea floor for one hundred and thirty-six years. Its recovery was a sight to behold and was greeted by cheers from boats and watchers on the shoreline. What made this ship special was that it was not a traditional boat of its time. This was a submarine.
The CSS Hunley was a Confederate ship built in 1863. The South was heavily disadvantaged in a naval war with the North, and some inventive Southerners came up with several designs for submarines. After much work, some failures, and the loss of sailors’ lives in accidents, the Hunley was built. It too would sink in initial trials, but it was recovered and would go on to become famous.
The following information gives an interesting description of the vessel and its capabilities.
The Hunley was built by private citizens, Park and Lyons of Mobile Alabama, in 1863. It was created out of a cylindrical iron steam boiler that had been deepened and lengthened by adding tapered ends. The sub was meant to be hand-powered by a crew of nine people. Eight people turned a hand-cranked propeller, while one person steered the sub. Each end of the submarine was equipped with ballast tanks that could either be flooded with water using valves or pumped dry by hand pumps.
Extra ballast had been added through the use of iron weights bolted under the hull. If the submarine needed more buoyancy to rise, these iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the bolts from inside the vessel.
On the night of February 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine attacked the USS Housatonic, an 1,800-ton sloop of war that boasted 23 guns. The attack occurred in Charleston Harbor off the coast of South Carolina. The H.L. Hunley rammed the Housatonic with a spar torpedo that was packed with explosive powder and attached to a long pole on its bow. This torpedo pierced the sloop’s wooden side and was detonated by a rope as the submarine backed away. The resulting explosion sent the Housatonic and five crew members to the bottom of Charleston Harbor, but it also sank the Hunley and its crew. This amazing feat earned the H.L. Hunley a place in the history of undersea warfare as the first submarine to sink a ship in wartime.
Answer the following questions based on the reading on a Civil War submarine.
| What was significant about this structure? | This was a Confederate submarine built to defeat the Union navy during the Civil War. |
| How did the submarine work? | Eight men were needed to hand-crank a propeller, while one man steered. |
| Was the submarine successful? | Yes and no. It sank the Union's USS Housatonic, but the explosion also sank the Hunley. |
