Submarine

HISTORY 

The word "submarine" was first used in the 17th century as an adjective meaning "underwater."

The first submersible boat was built by the German doctor Magnus Pegel in 1605. His submarine sank in mud. Pegel was also one of the first people to write about blood transfusions.

Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel (c.1572- November 7, 1633) invented the first navigable submarine in 1620 while working for the English Royal Navy. The craft was basically two boats, one upside-down and sealed on top of the other and was propelled by oars. It was successfully tested on the River Thames.

Between 1620 and 1624 Drebbel successfully built and tested two more submarines, each one bigger than the last. The third model had six oars and could carry 16 passengers. This model was demonstrated to King James I in person, but the British monarch wisely declined a ride inside. 

According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee made the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle on September 7, 1776, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist). 

The H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, who demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. She sank during a test run on October 15, 1863, killing all eight of her crew, but was raised and returned to service.

Conrad Wise Chapman - Submarine Torpedo Boat H.L. Hunley, Dec. 6, 1863

The HL Huntley was first called Fish Boat but was renamed after her inventor, Horace Lawson Huntley, after he was killed when she sank in 1863.

On February 17, 1864, the HL Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy warship (USS Housatonic). The submarine sank that same night, possibly because it was too close to its own exploding torpedo. All eight of her crew perished.

The Hunley was lost after she sank and was located only in 1995 and recovered in 2000. She is now on display in Charleston, South Carolina.

Following the introduction of submarines in several navies circa 1900, Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, the First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy, called them underhanded, threatening to hang enemy sub crews as pirates. So, in 1914, when Max Horton commanded Britain's first submarine engagement against the Germans, he ordered his crew to fly a Jolly Roger.

During World War II, John Capes, a 31-year-old Navy stoker en route to Alexandria escaped his submarine from depths of 171 feet and managed to get to the surface and survive.

HMS Thetis has the rare and unwanted honor of a submarine to have twice sunk and killed her crew. She sank during trials in 1939, drowning 99 men, before being raised and renamed. Sunk again during battle in 1943, her entire second crew was also lost.

During World War II, submarines made up around 2-3% of the US Navy's total personnel and tonnage.

Despite this, submarines inflicted significant damage on the Japanese Navy sinking approximately 56% of Japan's merchant marine tonnage, 30% of its warships, and several key vessels, including 8 aircraft carriers and 11 cruisers.

Japanese ships during World War II heavily underestimated the depths American submarines could get to, often allowing them to escape. This secret was ruined when Congressman Andrew May rashly revealed the classified naval information at a press conference, which resulted in an estimated loss of 10 submarines and 800 men. 

Built and launched in 1943, during her short career in the Pacific War, the USS Tang (SS-306)  sank 33 ships  -  more ships than any other American submarine in World War II. It was sank on October 24, 1944 when it was struck by its own torpedo.

USS Tang (SS-306) off Mare Island Navy Yard, December 1943

When HMS Venturer sank U-864 on February 9, 1945 it was history's only incident where one submarine intentionally sunk another while both were fully submerged.

On September 16, 1955, a converted Soviet Zulu-IV class submarine, the B-67, launched the world's first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), an R-11FM Scud. This was a historic event, as it marked the beginning of a new era of strategic deterrence.

The R-11FM Scud was a short-range ballistic missile with a range of about 300 kilometers (186 miles). It was not very accurate, but it was still a powerful weapon. The ability to launch nuclear missiles from submarines meant that the Soviet Union could now strike its enemies from anywhere in the world, without warning.

The first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1954, made her maiden voyage on January 17, 1957. It was launched from Groton, Connecticut, with the message, "Underway on nuclear power." 

The USS Nautilus permanently docked at tGroton, CT. By Victor-ny

The world's first submarine to carry ballistic missiles, the USS George Washington was launched in December 1959. It conducted the first SSBN deterrent patrol between November 1960 – January 1961 with 16 Polaris A-1 missiles.

The USS Triton, a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine, set sail from New London, Connecticut on February 24, 1960 to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of Earth. She spent 60 days and 21 hours under water travelling across the globe before arriving in Groton, Connecticut on April 25, 1960.

K-219 was a Project 667A Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine of the Soviet Navy. It sank in 1986 due to a missile silo leak, in 18,000ft of water. When it was located two years later, it's missile doors had been forced open and the nuclear missiles it carried were missing. 

The US Navy replaced expensive and clunky periscope controls on submarines with Xbox 360 controllers, which reduced training time from hours to minutes. The first submarine to get the new controller was the USS Colorado, which went into active duty in November 2017.

FUN SUBMARINE FACTS

The best known song about a submarine is The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine."

Wet Nellie is a custom-built submarine, created for the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me resembling a Lotus Esprit S1 sports car. The submarine went unclaimed for 10 years in a prepaid storage unit. When its lease ran out, a buyer bought the unit for less than $100, including the submarine. In 2013, the submarine was sold at auction for £550,000. 

It takes over 1000 years in man hours to build a Virginia class nuclear submarine.

Submarine crews do not use a typical 24 hour day, one day lasts 18 hours. 

Sailors aboard submarines work 6 hour shifts so that it is easier for them to give their undivided attention to the equipment they operate during a shorter shift.

Sail of the French nuclear submarine Casabianca;. Wikipedia.

The British submarine HMS Artful can stay submerged for 25 years without having to surface for air.

British Submarines carry the Jolly Rodger because a First Lord Sea Admiral said that submarines are "underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English" and their sailors should be hanged as pirates.

Submarine sonar is no a “ping” like movies and games, but actually extremely loud and can kill people and sea life.

Modern nuclear submarines are so well cloaked that in 2009, two French and British nuclear ballistic missile subs collided in the Atlantic Ocean by pure chance. Moving very slowly, they were't able to detect each other just feet apart.

US Navy's Virginia-class submarine periscope controls used to be helicopter-style sticks, which cost $38,000, but they have been replaced by $20 xbox controllers.