Existing comment:
H.L. Hunley Disappears
Discovering the Hunley
-- The Hunley Recovery Project --
To break the blockade of Charleston Harbor, the Confederate submarine the H.L. Hunley set out to attack the Union warship Housatonic on the night of February 17, 1864. After ramming a 135-pound torpedo into the ship's wooden hull, the submarine quickly backed away.
Seconds later a massive explosion shook the Housatonic, killing five crew members and sinking the vessel in 27 feet of water. The H.L. Hunley became the first submarine in history to destroy an enemy ship, but the Hunley and its crew never made it back to shore.
William Alexander's 1902 drawings of the H.L. Hunley. The Hunley was the third in a series of experimental submarines. The Hunley sank twice during tests, killing thirteen crew members. Built from an iron steamboiler, the Hunley was 40 feet long and carried a crew of nine men. The captain navigated while the other crew members worked the crank that turned the propeller shaft. The torpedo was attached to a long wooden spar on the bow. |