The H.L. Hunley started out with two men named James McClintock, who built gauges for steam-operated equipment, and Horace Lawson Hunley, an owner of a large plantation who worked as a lawyer and a customs officer in New Orleans. Horace got mad at the Union because of the blockade. He was not able to ship or sell his sugar and cotton. He became so mad that he became captain of a blockade runner, a ship that moved supplies by moving silently through the blockade at night. Horace wanted to build a submarine that would destroy the large barges that formed the blockade using a torpedo attached to the submarine that would destroy something right on target. He and McClintock teamed up in Mobile, Alabama and started working on submarines.
Their first submarine was the Pioneer. While testing it, they realized that it was too slow. Their second submarine was the American Diver. While testing it a large wave swamped and sank it. They started working on their third submarine in February of 1863. In recognition of Hunley’s financial contributions to the building of all three submarines, the third one was named H.L. Hunley. The shape of the H.L. Hunley reminded people of a fish, so it got the nickname “fish-boat”.
The Hunley could do things people could only imagine. To General Maury, the Hunley’s test run looked like magic. Many people wondered some of the same questions like, “How could a heavy iron boat sink, then resurface? How can it cruise without sails or an engine? What made the torpedo explode on target? How did its crew survive the experience?”
The Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship with a torpedo. The Hunley had three crews. The first crew included Lt. John Payne as captain, Lt. Charles Hasker...
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...redge, a vacuum-like machine used to suck up sand. He dredged around the hard surface, and realized it actually was the H.L. Hunley. Pecorelli surfaced again, but when he went down again, he was joined by Hall and Wilbanks, who each had a dredge. They uncovered as much of the Hunley they could just to make sure it actually was the Hunley, and then covered it back up so nothing would look suspicious, and went back to shore.
On August 8th, 2000, almost 5 years after Pecorelli discovered it; the Hunley was uncovered again and lifted out of the ocean by a giant crane. From there it went straight to a laboratory to do some experiments on and get cleaned up. Many artifacts were found inside of it, but investigations are still going on to try to find out why the Hunley sunk in the first place. They are still solving the mysteries of the H.L. Hunley
The American Turtle was ready for her initial mission on September 6, 1776, just after midnight in the New York Harbor. The operator, Ezra Lee, failed in his attempt to sink the HMS Eagle because he failed to secure the screw of the gunpowder magazine to the ship. The Turtle made two more attempts to sink enemy ships but they both failed. The end of the American Turtle is unknown. Some think she was accidentally sunk, dismantled, or destroyed. The Turtle was the very first submarine to be used in the...
On the morning of August 29, 1988, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was returning to her homeport in Norfolk after conducting a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. She had performed extremely well in exercises and was set to receive the Battle “E.” The carrier had recently taken on approximately 500 Tigers in Bermuda, joining their parents for the final leg of the voyage. Also, the Secretary of the Navy was aboard that morning, and had been present on the bridge prior to his departure at 0807. 14 minutes later, at 0821 according to the deck log, the Eisenhower struck the Spanish bulk carrier Urduliz, which was anchored in a designated anchorage area, “A,” in berth “Z.”
By the second torpedo, all the men on The USS Indianapolis were wide awake. Things were starting to go wrong on the USS “Indy.” Flames were venting and all the power h...
The U.S.S. Arizona was in the United States Navy for a very long time before it was sunk. The reason why the U.S.S. Arizona was built was because it was part of America's pre-World War 1 modernization of the Navy. It was built in the Brooklyn Naval Yard with the other Pennsylvania class battleship. The builders of the U.S.S. Arizona started the layouts on March 16, 1914. It took a few years before the Arizona would finally be launched. The U.S.S. Arizona was put into commission on October 17, 1917. When it was built it was a very expensive ship. After all the construction was done the grand total for the ship was 12,993,579.23 dollars. When the Arizona was built it was considered to be a Pennsylvania class battle ship. This meant that it was an upgrade over the Nevada class battleship, which was the types they built before the Pennsylvania class. The main upgrades that they made was that they ships of the Pennsylvania class had two more main battery guns, a greater length and water displacement, and it had four propellers for a higher maximum speed. They also upgraded the size of the secondary battery guns. Because of this the U.S.S. Arizona carried a punch that no one would like to deal with. This consisted of four triple turrets for the main battery, and 22 single turret secondary battery. The Arizona also had many anti-aircraft guns for protection.
...was recognized for having been travelled remarkably long on its engine before breaking down which exceeded industry standards. The crew were congratulating for their heroics and recognized their arduous task of manning the troublesome submarines.
On an ordinary day, October 12, 2000, in the port of Aden, Yemen, a small boat pulled aside the USS Cole. The unimportant boat looked unthreatening until a suicide attack occurred. The bombing was devastating, leaving a gigantic hole in the ship, killing 17 American sailors and injuring 39. The attackers were known enemies from Al- Qaeda, which had committed attacks against other countries. The attack on the USS Cole was one of the events that triggered the war on terror, which is still going on today. The U.S. had not concerned itself with Al-Qaeda until this vicious attack. The attack on the USS Cole began a war between terrorists and the U.S; the U.S now knows how dangerous Al-Qaeda is especially after the attack of 9/11. The Cole attack woke the United States and made it aware of Al-Qaeda as a real threat.
From the book the admirals I picked up a lot of knowledge and interesting facts that I was unaware of before I had read it. The Admirals takes place before, during and after World War II which goes on to explain how four different men who were enlisted in the navy were promoted to become the only Five-Star Fleet Admirals in American history. These four men were perhaps one of the biggest, if not the biggest reason that the Allied forces had won the war. The four men that received the honor and rank of Five-Star Fleet Admiral were “William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester W. Nimitz, and William F. Halsey”.
Robert Fulton invented the first submersible submarine. This new invention put Fulton’s steamboat ideas on hold. The submarine was for the fast growing British Navy. The British Navy needed an underwater device that could swim under enemy ships and set off explosives. Fulton was American and this invention would make him a celebrity back in the states. Fulton was the head of a 5-10 man team who was inventing this new machine. Fultons main partner was a man named Robert Livingston. Livingston obtained a license for these new machine. This put lots of pressure on Fulton to make sure the sub works. After a couple of tests the mission was completed without any big mistakes. The new Submarine could submerge for 5 hours carrying two men. It was also
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the limits of innovation are often put to the test. In the case of a submarine launched to sea in 1938, the USS Squalus, bad luck proved disastrous. Within minutes of a test dive, twenty-six men drowned. Years later, Peter Maas compiled the known information about the tragedy into The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History. Over the heartbreaking journey of hopelessness to hope, crisis to survival, and depths to ascension, Maas weaves the sad tale depicting the unknown dangers that technology possesses.
Lawson, Robert L., and Barrett Tillman. U.S. Navy Air Combat: 1939-1946. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub., 2000. Print.
There are mysteries which man can only guess at, which may only ever truly be solved in part; the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking is one of them. At the time it was launched in 1958, the 729-foot long, 75-foot wide freighter was the largest ship to ply the Great Lakes. Although, on November 9, 1975 the ship embarked upon what would become its final voyage. She was carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore pellets and bound for Detroit, and though the day was bright, in her path laid great turbulence. On November 10, at 1:00am, the first signs of trouble appeared, and prevailed into the afternoon. As the waves built, luck was neither with the ship nor the crew. At 7:10 PM, Captain McSorley delivered what was to be his final message "We are holding our own." Ten minutes later, the Fitzgerald could neither be raised by radio, nor detected on radar, and no distress signal was received. With that, the ship and crew of 29 men sank to the bottom of Lake Superior. Several expeditions have been mounted to the wreck and have been the subject of some controversy. There are many theories for how the Fitzgerald found itself hundreds of feet below the water; however none of them have been proven indefinitely. One possible cause of this disaster includes the ship crossing the Superior Shoal, with water as shallow as 22 feet. Additionally, the ship may have suffered a stress fracture and broke apart on the surface. Another possibility is that the ship succumbed to the forces of the Three Sisters, a Lake Superior phenomenon, consisting of massive waves. These current theories are merely conjectures, and since each holds the possibility of being true, it cannot yet be determined which one actually is.
...the government removed the remains of the wreckage and bodies of those who died on the ship. They also buried the bodies in Arlington National Cemetery and some at their hometowns. A memorial with the ship’s mast was placed in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the lives lost from the explosion.
During World War I the U.S. Navy separated these submersibles into two groups according to mission. “Boats” of the N and O classes, as well as some of the E type, patrolled American coasts and harbors following a defensive strategy.
On March 31st 1909 the largest passenger ship was being created, called The Titanic. Titanic means exceptional strength or big in power, taking it three years to create the finest, nobody thought The Titanic would sink when hitting an iceberg, killing 1,503 and leaving only 705 that survived the tragic event. “The RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time it entered service and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line”(Wikipedia). The Titanic has many interesting facts such as when it was made, the life on board, and how all the rich man's dream sinks.
"The US Navy -- Fact File." The U.S. Navy. United States Navy, 11 May 2009. Web. 01 July 2010. .