Hl Hunley Submarine

The American Civil War was overflowing with innovations in military technology and gave birth to a menacing new string of marine warfare- the combat submarine . New Orleans lawyer Horace Lawson Hunley and his team of 21 men designed and constructed The H.L. Hunley combat submarine. The submarine proved not only deadly to its enemies but to its creators as well. The vessel took all 22 lives of the men who designed it and also killed 5 men aboard a Union ironclad sloop named The USS Housatonic. The H.L Hunley was an enormous innovation in technology and the level of its complexity would not be reached for another 50 years during the first World War.

According to Lolordo Ann, The H.L Hunley was the third vessel that Mr. Hunley and his group of investors had financed, and was the most successful. The group they financed and worked with was originally based in New Orleans, but had to move to a machine shop in Mobile, Alabama after union forces overran the city. The original design was a steam powered submarine, but was later discarded for a crank powered and ironclad vessel which was submersible for up to two

Ruane, The H.L. Hunley’s design came with a hefty price which was the death of 31 men. In August of 1863, The Hunley’s engineers scheduled the submarine for its first official test run, which it failed horrendously by failing to surface, and by killing all 5 crew members aboard. Despite the previous failures, Mr. Hunley was determined to achieve success. Only two months after the accident, its designers submerged the Hunley again and this time with its creator inside. The submarine sank, killing the whole crew including Mr. Hunley. Nevertheless, the submarine’s destructive potential piqued the Confederacy’s interest and was retrieved shortly after the second incident. Confederate admirals decided on testing the submarine’s capabilities through genuine combat missions, the first of which was an attack on the USS Housatonic on