Initially containing barbs to jam inside the wooden hull of a ship, there is evidence now the torpedo on the Hunley was set off electrically, by pushing against the hull, exploding on contact. A copper cylinder containing 135 pounds (61kg) of black powder was attached to the 22 foot (6.7 m) long wooden spar. This however became far too dangerous because of the line fouling up the screw.Ī spar torpedo hereafter became the armament. The submarine would dive underneath an enemy ship, surface beyond her, and draw the towed explosive charge against the hull. Two small watertight hatches atop two conning towers equipped with small portholes, one forward and one aft assisted with entrance and exit.Īs armament a towed floating explosive was initially considered. As an aside, the Hunley was discovered with these weights still attached. There were weights bolted to the underside of the boat, that could be released from inside the sub in case of an emergency. There were ballast tanks at each end of the boat, flooded with valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. A crew of eight, featuring seven to turn the hand cranked propeller, and one to steer and direct the boat. Variously referred to as a fish boat or torpedo boat, the Hunley was in fact built for purpose. After the loss of the American Diver during harbour trials Hunley provided the financing for the boat eventually named after him. She was named after one of her inventors, Horace Lawson Hunley, who provided the financing for James McClintock to design and build two prototype submarines, namely the Pioneer and American Diver.Įven at this early stage, the builders experimented with electrical and steam propulsion, before finally settling on a simple hand-cranked propeller. The idea of underwater warfare of course was not new, the Turtle being the first submarine used to attack an enemy warship almost ninety years earlier, during the American Revolutionary War in 1776. Lasch, who was Chairman of the Friends of the Hunley during the Hunley’s recovery. No visit to Charleston is complete if you have not been to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center located in the former Charleston Navy Yard in North Charleston. The colonial houses and architecture of Charleston (think Rainbow Row) are wonderful, and the traditional deep friedsouthern cuisine, especially the shrimp that Charleston is famous for make this a must visit destination if you are in the southern states. Not only the place where the American Civil War started, it is also the home of the fighting lady or USS Yorktown at Patriot’s Point as well as Fort Sumter. The historical city of Charleston offers much to the traveller. Through the years I have been fortunate to visit the Hunley on two occasions, first in 2004 and, most recently, in December 2018. The ongoing preservation work on the submarine and many artefacts found will provide clues to the archaeologists about her fate. She is indeed a time capsule, and keeps teaching us more about life during the Civil War. She was then delivered to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, a high-tech lab specially designed to conservethe vessel and unlock her many mysteries. The Hunley Commission and the Friends of the Hunley raised the necessary funds and, with the help of the US Navy, finally recovered the Hunley on August 8, 2000. After news spread of her discovery, it was decided to retrieve the submarine from the sea. Led by bestselling author Clive Cussler, the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA)finally found the Hunley in 1995. After completing her mission, she mysteriously vanished and remained lost for over a century. Hunley became the first successful combat submarine in the world with the sinking of the USS Housatonic outside the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina. Hunley, the ship that sank three times” because that is the story of the subject of my talk tonight.
Hunley - my recent visit to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center"Ĭurtain raiser address to the Johannesburg Branch on 16 January 2020Īnother title for tonight’s presentation could have been “Unravelling the mysteries of the H.L.
South African Military History Society - Lectures - H L Hunley progressĭie Suid-Afrikaanse Krygshistoriese Vereniging
0 kommentar(er)
