CSS H. L. Hunley on the pier
Career
Launched:	1863
Fate:	sank February 17, 1864
General Characteristics
Displacement:	7.5 tons
Length:	39 ft 6 in (12.0 m)
Beam:	3 ft 10 in
Hull Height:	4 ft 3 in (1.2 m)
Propulsion:	hand-cranked propeller
Speed (surface):	4 knots (7 km/h)
Complement:	1 officer, 7 enlisted
Armament:	spar torpedo

CSS H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States Navy that demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. Hunley was the first submarine to sink a warship, though the sub was also sunk in the engagement. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Confederate Naval Jack icon for ship pages File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. ... HMS Vanguard, a Vanguard-class nuclear ballistic missile (SSBN) submarine HMCS Windsor, a Victoria-class diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine HMAS Rankin, a Collins-class diesel-electric guided missile (SSG) submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate... CSN Jack CSS Alabama, a ship of the Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy was the branch of the Confederate States armed forces responsible for naval operations during the American Civil War. ...

History

Hunley and two earlier submarines were privately developed and paid for by Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock and Baxter Watson. Horace Lawson Hunley was a Confederate marine engineer druing the American Civil War. ...

Predecessors to Hunley

Hunley, McClintock and Watson first built a small submarine named Pioneer at New Orleans, Louisiana. Pioneer was tested in February 1862 in the Mississippi River, and was later towed to Lake Pontchartrain for additional trials. But the Union advance towards New Orleans caused the men to abandon development and scuttle Pioneer the following month. New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... State nickname: Pelican State Official languages English and French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans at last official government census, but probably Baton Rouge since Hurricane Katrina Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) Senators Mary Landrieu (D) David Vitter (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 31st 134,382 km² 16 Population  - Total... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This page is about the river in the United States; there is also a Canadian Mississippi River (Ontario). ... Map showing Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain (local pronunciation ) is a brackish-water lake in southeastern Louisiana. ...

The three inventors moved to Mobile, Alabama, and teamed up with Thomas Park and Thomas Lyons, owners of the Park & Lyons machine shop. They soon began development of a second submarine, American Diver. Their efforts were supported by the Confederate States Army; Lieutenant William Alexander of the 21st Alabama Volunteer Regiment was assigned to duty at Park & Lyons. The men experimented with electromagnetic and steam propulsion for the new submarine before falling back on a simpler hand-cranked propulsion system. American Diver was ready for harbor trials by January 1863, but proved to be too slow to be practical. One attempted attack on the Union blockade was made in February 1863, but was unsuccessful. American Diver sank in the mouth of Mobile Bay during a storm later the same month, and was not recovered. Motto: Nickname: The Azalea City Location in Alabama Founded 1702 Incorporated 1814 County Mobile County Borough {{{borough}}} Parrish {{{parrish}}} Mayor Sam Jones Area  - Total  - Water 412. ... State nickname: Camellia State, The Heart of Dixie¹, Yellowhammer State Official languages English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Governor Bob Riley (R) Senators Richard Shelby (R) Jeff Sessions (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 30th 52,423 mi²/135,775 km² 3. ... Thomas Lyons (1838–29 August 1904) was a seaman in the United States Navy. ... Some Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army (CSA) was formed in February, 1861, to defend the Confederate States of America, which had itself been formed that same year when seven southern states seceded from the United States (with four more to follow). ... A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer. ... 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Mobile Bay - Landsat photo Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. ...

Construction and testing of Hunley

Construction of Hunley began soon after the loss of American Diver. Hunley, which at this stage was variously referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat" or the "porpoise", was fashioned from a cylindrical iron steam boiler, which was deepened and also lengthened through the addition of tapered ends. The Hunley was designed to be hand powered by a crew of eight: seven to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. As a true submarine, each end was equipped with ballast tanks that could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Extra ballast was added through the use of iron weights bolted to the underside of the hull. In the event the submarine needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency, the iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the vessel.

Cutaway drawing of CSS H. L. Hunley by William Alexander

Hunley was equipped with two watertight hatches, one fore and one aft, atop two conning towers with small portholes. The hatches were very small, measuring 14 by 15¾ inches (356 by 400 mm), making entrance to and egress from the hull very difficult. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Hunley was ready for a demonstration by July 1863. With Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan looking on, Hunley successfully attacked a coal flatboat in Mobile Bay. Following this demonstration of Hunley's attack capabilities, the submarine was shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, by rail, arriving August 12, 1863. July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ... Franklin Buchanan Franklin Buchanan (September 13, 1800—May 11, 1874) was an officer in the U.S. Navy who became an admiral in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. ... Charleston, South Carolinas oldest city Motto: Aedes Mores Juraque Curat Nickname: The Holy City, The Palmetto City Founded 1670 Incorporated County Berkeley and Charleston Counties Borough {{{borough}}} Parrish {{{parrish}}} Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. ... State nickname: Palmetto State Official languages English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Governor Mark Sanford (R) Senators Lindsey Graham (R) Jim DeMint (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 40th 82,965 km² 6 Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 26th 4,012,012 51. ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

The Confederate military seized the vessel from its private builders and owners shortly after its arrival in Charleston and turned it over to the Confederate Army. Hunley would operate as a Confederate Army vessel from this point forward, although Horace Hunley and his partners remained involved in the submarine's further testing and operation.

Confederate Navy Lieutenant John A. Payne of CSS Chicora volunteered to be Hunley's skipper, and a volunteer crew of seven men from Chicora and CSS Palmetto State was assembled to operate the submarine. On August 29, 1863, Hunley's new crew was preparing to make a test dive to learn the operation of the submarine when Lieutenant Payne accidentally stepped on the lever controlling the sub's diving planes while the crew were rowing and the boat was running. This caused Hunley to dive with hatches still open, flooding and sinking the vessel. Payne and two other men escaped; the remaining five crewmen drowned. CSS Chicora, a Confederate ironclad ram, was built under contract at Charleston, South Carolina in 1862, by James M. Eason to John L. Porters plans, using up most of a $300,000 State appropriation for construction of marine batteries; Eason received a bonus for skill and promptitude. ... CSS Palmetto State, an ironclad ram, was built by Cameron and Co. ... August 29 is the 241st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (242nd in leap years), with 124 days remaining. ...

On October 15, 1863 the Hunley failed to surface during a mock attack, killing its inventor Horace Lawson Hunley and seven other crewmen. In both cases, the Confederate Navy salvaged the vessel and returned it to service. October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in Leap years). ...

Attack on USS Housatonic

Although it had never launched a successful attack, on February 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine made a night attack on the USS Housatonic. Housatonic, an 1800-ton steam powered sloop-of-war with 12 large cannon, was at the entrance to Charleston, South Carolina harbor, about 4 miles out to sea. In an effort to break the naval blockade of the city, Lieutenant George E. Dixon and a crew of seven volunteers rammed the Hunley into the Housatonic with 90 pounds (41 kg) of explosive powder attached to a 22-foot long spar on its bow. The explosives were embedded in the sloop's wooden side and were detonated by a wire connected to a battery, as the Hunley backed away. The resulting explosion sent the Housatonic with five crew members to the bottom of Charleston Harbor, in five minutes. The Hunley also sank, moments after signalling shore, possibly because of the blast, although this is not certain. The entire crew died, but the H.L. Hunley earned a place in the history of undersea warfare as the first submarine to sink a ship in wartime. February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... USS Housatonic was a screw sloop-of-war of the United States Navy, named for one of the rivers of New England which rises in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and flows southward into Connecticut before emptying into Long Island Sound a little east of Bridgeport, Connecticut. ... USS Constellation, a United States Navy sloop-of-war. ...

The Wreck

CSS H. L. Hunley, suspended from a crane during its recovery from Charleston Harbor, August 8, 2000. (Photograph from the U.S. Naval Historical Center.)

The search for the Hunley ended in 1995, 131 years later, when best-selling author Clive Cussler, and his team from the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) found the submarine where E. Lee Spence had discovered it in 1970. At the time of discovery, Cussler and NUMA were conducting this research in partnership with the South Carolina Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology (SCIAA). The team realized that they had found the Hunley after exposing the forward hatch and the ventilator box (the air box for the attachment of a snorkel). The submarine rested on its starboard side at about a 45-degree angle and was covered in a 1/4 to 3/4-inch encrustation of ferrous oxide bonded with sand and seashell particles. Archaeologists exposed a little more on the port side and found the bow dive plane on that side. More probing revealed an approximate length of 40 feet with all of the vessel preserved under the sediment. Image File history File links CSSHLHunleyrecovery. ... Image File history File links CSSHLHunleyrecovery. ... The Naval Historical Center (NHC) is the official history program of the United States Navy. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Clive Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Alhambra, California) is an American adventure novelist. ... The National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) in the United States is dedicated to preserving maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts. ... The South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) was established in 1963 as a University of South Carolina research institute and a state cultural resource management agency. ... Iron(II) oxide, also called ferrous oxide, is a black-colored powder with the chemical formula FeO. It consists of the element iron in the oxidation state of 2 bonded to oxygen. ...

Archaeological investigation and excavation culminated with the raising of the Hunley from its watery grave on August 8, 2000. A large team of professionals from the Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch, National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and various other individuals investigated the vessel, measuring and documenting it prior to removal. Once the on site investigation was complete, harnesses were slipped underneath the sub one by one and attached to a truss designed by Oceaneering, Inc. After the last harness had been secured, the crane from the recovery barge Karlissa B began hoisting the submarine from the mire of the harbor entrance. On August 8, 2000 at 8:37 a.m. the sub broke the surface for the first time in over 136 years, where it was greeted by a cheering crowd lining the shore and in hundreds of nearby watercraft. Once safely on its transporting barge, the Hunley finally completed its last voyage back to Charleston. The removal operation reached its successful conclusion when the submarine was secured inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, at the former Charleston Navy Yard in a specially designed tank of freshwater to await conservation. August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Naval Historical Center (NHC) is the official history program of the United States Navy. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... Charleston Navy Yard was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina. ...

The Crew

Apart from the commander of the submarine, Lieutenant George E. Dixon, the identities of the volunteer crewmembers of the Hunley remained a mystery. Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist working for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History examined the remains and determined that four of the men were American born, while the four others were European born, based on the chemical signatures left on the men's teeth and bones by the predominant components of their diet: four of the men had eaten a lot of corn, indicating that they were likely Americans, while the remainder ate mostly wheat and rye, indicating that they probably originated in Europe. By examining Civil War records and conducting DNA testing with possible relatives, forensic genealogist Linda Abrams was able to identify the remains of Dixon and the three other Americans: Frank Collins, Joseph Ridgaway, and James A. Wicks. Identifying the European crew members has been more problematic, but was apparently solved in late 2004. The position of the corpses indicated that the men apparently died at their stations, and were not trying to flee the sinking submarine. The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ... Categories: Museum stubs | Museums in Washington, DC | Smithsonian Institution | National Mall | Natural history museums ... Space-filling model of a section of DNA molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and most viruses). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 17 April 2004 the remains of the crew of the H. L. Hunley were interred in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery with full military honors, and attended by as many as 10,000 civil war re-enactors and well wishers. This cemetery was earlier part of the Citidal's Physical Education department; part of the cemetery was under their football field. April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Hunley herself remains at the "Lasch" conservation center, for further study and conservation. There have been many surprising discoveries over time, including the complexity of the sub's ballast and pumping systems, steering and diving apparatus, and its construction and final assembly. Another surprise occurred in 2002, when a researcher, examining the area close to Lieutenant Dixon, found the famous gold coin, long thought to be a myth, which his girlfriend had given to him. Legend had held that Dixon had the coin with him at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in 1862. A bullet, which would have probably cost him his leg and possibly his life, struck the coin in his pocket. The coin was badly bent but saved Dixon from injury and was later engraved by him to mark the occasion. Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders Ulysses S. Grant Don Carlos Buell Albert S. Johnston† P.G.T. Beauregard Strength Army of West Tennessee (33,085 men) and Army of the Ohio (32,000 men) Army of the Mississippi (44,968 men) Casualties 1,754 killed...

Irony has it, that only 5 people aboard the USS Housatonic were killed, while the Hunley cost the lives of three crews (21 men in total)

External links

1. Friends of the Hunley
2. "H. L. Hunley, Confederate Submarine" at the U.S. Naval Historical Center
3. Hunley history
4. Pre-Hunley Confederate Submarines
5. US Navy
6. The Hunley (TV movie)
7. Rootsweb

The Naval Historical Center (NHC) is the official history program of the United States Navy. ...

Bibliography

• The Hunley [ISBN 1886391432]
• Civil War Sub [ISBN 0448425971]
• The Voyage of the Hunley [ISBN 1580800947]
• Raising the Hunley [ISBN 0345447727]
• The CSS H.L. Hunley [ISBN 1572491752]
• The CSS Hunley [ISBN 0878332197]