THE COMING OF STEAM AND ELECTRICITY
In the fall of 1863, the Federal fleet was blockading the harbour of
Charleston, S. C. Included among the many ships was one of the
marvels of that period, the United States battleship _Ironsides_.
Armour-plated and possessing what was then considered a wonderful
equipment of high calibred guns and a remarkably trained crew, she
was the terror of the Confederates. None of their ships could hope
to compete with her and the land batteries of the Southern harbour
were powerless to reach her.
[Illustration: © U. & U.
_A British Anti-Aircraft Gun._]
During the night of October 5, 1863, the officer of the watch on
board the _Ironsides_, Ensign Howard, suddenly observed a small
object looking somewhat like a pleasure boat, floating close to his
own ship. Before Ensign Howard's order to fire at it could be
executed, the _Ironsides_ was shaken from bow to stern, an immense
column of water was thrown up and flooded her deck and engine room,
and Ensign Howard fell, mortally wounded. The little floating object
was responsible for all this. It was a Confederate submersible boat,
only fifty feet long and nine feet in diameter, carrying a
fifteen-foot spar-torpedo. She had been named _David_ and the
Confederate authorities hoped to do away by means of her with the
Goliaths of the Federal navy. Manned only by five men, under the
command of Lieutenant W. T. Glassel, driven by a small engine and
propeller, she had managed to come up unobserved within striking
distance of the big battleship.
The attack, however, was unsuccessful. The _Ironsides_ was
undamaged. On the other hand the plucky little _David_ had been
disabled to such an extent that her crew had to abandon her and take
to the water, allowing their boat to drift without motive power.
Four of them were later picked up. According to an account in
Barnes, _Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare_, the engineer, after having
been in the water for some time, found himself near her and
succeeded in getting on board. He relighted her fires and navigated
his little boat safely back to Charleston. There she remained,
making occasional unsuccessful sallies against the Federal fleet,
and when Charleston was finally occupied by the Federal forces, she
was found there.
In spite of this failure the Confederates continued their attempts
to break the blockade of their most important port by submarine
devices. A new and somewhat improved _David_ was ordered and built
at another port. News of this somehow reached the Federal Navy
Department and was immediately communicated to Vice-Admiral
Dahlgren, in command of the blockading fleet. Despite this warning
and instructions to all the officers of the fleet, the second
_David_ succeeded in crossing Charleston bar.
This new boat was a real diving submarine boat and though frequently
called _David_ had been christened the _Hundley_. It had been built
in the shipyards of McClintock & Hundley at Mobile, Alabama, and had
been brought to Charleston by rail. On her trial she proved very
clumsy and difficult to manage. For her first trip a crew of nine
men volunteered. Not having any conning tower it was necessary that
one of the hatchways should be left open while the boat travelled on
the surface so that the steersman could find his bearings. While she
was on her first trip, the swell from a passing boat engulfed her.
Before the hatchway could be closed, she filled with water. Of
course, she sank like a piece of lead and her entire crew, with the
exception of the steersman, was drowned.
In spite of this mishap the _Hundley_ was raised and again put in
commission. Lieutenant Payne who had steered her on her first fatal
trip had lost neither his courage nor faith and again assumed
command of her. Soon after she started on her second trip a sudden
squall arose. Before the hatchways could be closed, she again filled
with water and sank, drowning all of her crew with the exception of
Lieutenant Payne and two of his men.
Undaunted he took her out on a third trip after she had again been
raised. Ill luck still pursued her. Off Fort Sumter she was capsized
and this time four of her crew were drowned.
The difficulties encountered in sailing the _Hundley_ on the surface
of the water apparently made no difference when it came to finding
new crews for her. By this time, however, the powers that be had
become anxious that their submarine boat should accomplish something
against an enemy, instead of drowning only her own men and it was
decided to use her on the next trip in a submerged state. Again
Lieutenant Payne was entrusted with her guidance. Her hatches were
closed, her water tanks filled, and she was off for her first dive.
Something went wrong however; either too much water had been put in
her tanks or else the steering gear refused to work. At any rate she
hit the muddy bottom with such force that her nose became deeply
imbedded and before she could work herself free her entire crew of
eight was suffocated. Lieutenant Payne himself lost his life which
he had risked so valiantly and frequently before.
Once more she was raised and once more volunteers rushed to man her.
On the fifth trip, however, the _Hundley_, while travelling
underwater, became entangled in the anchor chains of a boat she
passed and was held fast so long that her crew of nine were dead
when she was finally disentangled and raised.
Thirty-five lives had so far been lost without any actual results
having been accomplished. In spite of this a new crew was found. Her
commander, Lieutenant Dixon, was ordered to make an attack against
the Federal fleet immediately, using, however, the boat as a
submersible instead of a submarine.
Admiral David Porter in his _Naval History of the Civil War_
described the attack, which was directed against the U. S. S.
_Housatonic_, one of the newest Federal battleships, as follows:
At about 8.45 P. M., the officer of the deck on board the
unfortunate vessel discovered something about one hundred yards
away, moving along the water. It came directly towards the ship,
and within two minutes of the time it was first sighted was
alongside. The cable was slipped, the engines backed, and all
hands called to quarters. But it was too late--the torpedo struck
the _Housatonic_ just forward of the mainmast, on the starboard
side, on a line with the magazine. The man who steered her (the
_Hundley_) knew where the vital spots of the steamer were and he
did his work well. When the explosion took place the ship
trembled all over as if by the shock of an earthquake, and seemed
to be lifted out of the water, and then sank stern foremost,
heeling to port as she went down.
Only a part of the _Housatonic's_ complement was saved. Of the
_Hundley_ no trace was discovered and she was believed to have
escaped. Three years later, however, divers who had been sent down
to examine the hull of the _Housatonic_ found the little submarine
stuck in the hole made by her attack on the larger ship and inside
of her the bodies of her entire crew.
The submarines and near-submarines built in the United States during
the Civil War were remarkable rather for what they actually
accomplished than for what they contributed towards the development
of submarine boats. Perhaps the greatest service which they rendered
in the latter direction was that they proved to the satisfaction of
many scientific men that submarine boats really held vast
possibilities as instruments of naval warfare.
France still retained its lead in furnishing new submarine
projects. One of these put forward in 1861 by Olivier Riou deserves
mention because it provided for two boats, one driven by steam and
one by electricity. Both of these submarines were built, but
inasmuch as nothing is known of the result of their trials, it is
safe to conclude that neither of them proved of any practical value.
Two years later, in 1863, two other Frenchmen, Captain Bourgeois and
M. Brun, built at Rochefort a submarine 146 feet long and 12 feet in
diameter which they called the _Plongeur_. They fitted it with a
compressed-air engine of eighty horse-power. Extensive trials were
made with this boat but resulted only in the discovery that, though
it was possible to sink or rise with a boat of this type without
great difficulty, it was impossible to keep her at an even keel for
any length of time.
During the next few years, undoubtedly as a result of the submarine
activities during the Civil War, a number of projects were put
forward in the United States, none of which, however, turned out
successfully. One of them, for which a man by the name of Halstead
was responsible, was a submarine built for the United States Navy in
1865. It was not tried out until 1872 and it was not even successful
in living up to its wonderful name, _The Intelligent Whale_. Its
first trial almost resulted in loss of life and was never repeated.
In spite of this, however, the boat was preserved and may still be
seen at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
In the meantime, an invention had been made by an Austrian artillery
officer which before long was to exert a powerful influence on
submarine development, though it was in no sense a submarine boat.
The manner in which the submarines had attacked their opponents
during the Civil War suggested to him the need of improvements in
this direction. As a result he conceived a small launch which was to
carry the explosive without any navigators. Before he could carry
his plans very far he died. A brother officer in the navy continued
his work and finally interested the manager of an English
engineering firm located at Fiume, Mr. Whitehead. The result of the
collaboration of these two men was the Whitehead torpedo. A series
of experiments led to the construction of what was first called a
"Submarine Locomotive" torpedo, which not only contained a
sufficient quantity of explosives to destroy large boats, but was
also enabled by mechanical means to propel itself and keep on its
course after having been fired. The Austrian Government was the
first one to adopt this new weapon. Whitehead, however, refused to
grant a monopoly to the Austrians and in 1870 he sold his
manufacturing rights and secret processes to the British Government
for a consideration of $45,000.
Before very long, special boats were built for the purpose of
carrying and firing these torpedoes and gradually every great power
developed a separate torpedo flotilla. Hand in hand with this
development a large number of improvements were made on the original
torpedo and some of these devices proved of great usefulness in the
development of submarine boats.
The public interest in submarines grew rapidly at this time. Every
man who was a boy in 1873, or who had the spirit of boyhood in him
then,--or perhaps now,--will remember the extraordinary piece of
literary and imaginative prophecy achieved by Jules Verne in his
novel _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea_. Little about the
_Nautilus_ that held all readers entranced throughout his story is
lacking in the submarines of to-day except indeed its extreme
comfort, even luxury. With those qualities our submarine navigators
have to dispense. But the electric light, as we know it, was unknown
in Verne's time yet he installed it in the boat of his fancy. Our
modern internal-combustion engines were barely dreamed of, yet they
drove his boat. His fancy even enabled him to foresee one of the
most amazing features of the Lake boat of to-day, namely the
compressed air chamber which opened to the sea still holds the water
back, and enables the submarine navigator clad in a diver's suit to
step into the wall of water and prosecute his labors on the bed of
the ocean. Jules Verne even foresaw the callous and inhuman
character of the men who command the German submarines to-day. His
Captain Nemo had taken a vow of hate against the world and
relentlessly drove the prow of his steel boat into the hulls of
crowded passenger ships, finding his greatest joy in sinking slowly
beside them with the bright glare of his submarine electric lights
turned full upon the hapless women and children over whose
sufferings he gloated as they sank. The man who sank the _Lusitania_
could do no more.
More and more determined became the attempts to build submarine
boats that could sink and rise easily, navigate safely and quickly,
and sustain human beings under the surface of the water for a
considerable length of time. Steam, compressed air, and electricity
were called upon to do their share in accomplishing this desired
result. Engineers in every part of the world began to interest
themselves in the submarine problem and as a result submarine boats
in numbers were either projected or built between 1875 and 1900.
One of the most persistent workers in this period was a well-known
Swedish inventor, Nordenfeldt, who had established for himself a
reputation by inventing a gun which even to-day has lost nothing of
its fame. In 1881 he became interested in the work which had been
done by an English clergyman named Garret. The latter had built a
submarine boat which he called the _Resurgam_ (I shall rise)--thus
neatly combining a sacred promise with a profane purpose. In 1879
another boat was built by him driven by a steam engine. Nordenfeldt
used the fundamental ideas upon which these two boats were based,
added to them some improvements of his own as well as some devices
which had been used by Bushnell, and finally launched in 1886 his
first submarine boat. The government of Greece bought it after some
successful trials. Not to be outdone, Greece's old rival, Turkey,
immediately ordered two boats for her own navy. Both of these were
much larger than the Greek boat and by 1887 they had reached
Constantinople in sections where they were to be put together. Only
one of them, however, was ever completed. Characteristic Turkish
delay intervened. The most typical feature of this boat was the fact
that it carried a torpedo tube for Whitehead torpedoes. On the
surface of the water this boat proved very efficient, but as an
underwater boat it was a dismal failure. More than in any other
craft that had ever been built and accepted, the lack of stability
was a cause of trouble in the _Nordenfeldt II._ As soon as any
member of the crew moved from one part of the boat to another, she
would dip in the direction in which he was moving, and everybody,
who could not in time take hold of some part of the boat, came
sliding and rolling in the same direction. When finally such a
tangle was straightened out, only a few minutes elapsed before
somebody else, moving a few steps, would bring about the same
deplorable state of affairs. The _Nordenfeldt II._ acted more like a
bucking bronco than a self-respecting submarine boat and as a result
it became impossible to find a crew willing to risk their lives in
manning her. Before very long she had rusted and rotted to pieces.
In spite of this lack of success, Nordenfeldt built a fourth boat
which displayed almost as many unfortunate features as her
predecessors and soon was discarded and forgotten.
[Illustration: Photo by Bain News Service.
_An Anti-Aircraft Outpost._]
In the latter part of the nineteenth century the French Government,
which for so many years had shown a strong and continuous interest
in the submarine problem, was particularly active. Three different
types of boats built in this period under the auspices and with the
assistance of the French Government deserve particular attention.
The first of these was the _Gymnote_, planned originally by a
well-known French engineer, Dupuy de Lome, whose alert mind also
planned an airship and made him a figure in the history of our
Panama Canal. He died, however, before his project could be
executed. M. Gustave Zédé, a marine engineer and his friend,
continued his work after modifying some of his plans. The French
Minister of Marine of this period, Admiral Aube who had long been
strongly interested in submarines, immediately accepted M. Zédé's
design and ordered the boat to be built. As the earliest of
successful submarines she merits description:
[Illustration: © U. & U.
_A Coast Defense Anti-Aircraft Gun._]
The _Gymnote_ was built of steel in the shape of a cigar. She was 59
feet long, 5 feet 9 inches beam, and 6 feet in diameter, just deep
enough to allow a man to stand upright in the interior. The motive
power was originally an electro-motor of 55 horse-power, driven from
564 accumulators. It was of extraordinary lightness, weighing only
4410 pounds, and drove the screw at the rate of two thousand
revolutions a minute, giving a speed of six knots an hour, its
radius of action at this speed being thirty-five miles.
Immersion was accomplished by the introduction of water into three
reservoirs, placed one forward, one aft, and one centre. The water
was expelled either by means of compressed air or by a rotary pump
worked by an electro-motor. Two horizontal rudders steered the boat
in the vertical plane and an ordinary rudder steered in the
horizontal.
The _Gymnote_ had her first trial on September 4, 1888, and the
Paris _Temps_ described the result in the following enthusiastic
language:
She steered like a fish both as regards direction and depth; she
mastered the desired depth with ease and exactness; at full power
she attained the anticipated speed of from nine to ten knots; the
lighting was excellent, there was no difficulty about heating. It
was a strange sight to see the vessel skimming along the top of
the water, suddenly give a downward plunge with its snout, and
disappear with a shark-like wriggle of its stern, only to come up
again at a distance out and in an unlooked-for direction. A few
small matters connected with the accumulators had to be seen to,
but they did not take a month.
Following along the same lines as this boat another boat,
considerably larger, was built. Before it was completed, M. Zédé
died and it was decided to name the new boat in his honour. The
_Gustave Zédé_ was launched at Toulon on June 1, 1893; she was 159
feet in length, beam 12 feet 4 inches, and had a total displacement
of 266 tons. Her shell was of "Roma" bronze, a non-magnetic metal,
and one that could not be attacked by sea water.
The motive power was furnished by two independent electro-motors of
360 horse-power each and fed by accumulators. In order to endow the
boat with a wide radius of action a storage battery was provided.
The successive crews of the _Gustave Zédé_ suffered much from the
poisonous fumes of the accumulators, and during the earlier trials
all the men on board were ill.
In the bows was a torpedo tube, and an arrangement was used whereby
the water that entered the tube after the discharge of the torpedo
was forced out by compressed air. Three Whitehead torpedoes were
carried. In spite of the fact that a horizontal rudder placed at the
stern had not proved serviceable on the _Gymnote_, such a rudder was
fitted in the _Gustave Zédé_. With this rudder she usually plunged
at an angle of about 5°, but on several occasions she behaved in a
very erratic fashion, seesawing up and down, and once when the
Committee of Experts were on board, she proved so capricious, going
down at an angle of 30°-35°, often throwing the poor gentlemen on to
the floor, that it was decided to fix a system of six rudders, three
on each side.
Four water tanks were carried, one at each end and two in the
middle, and the water was expelled by four pumps worked by a little
electro-motor; these pumps also furnished the air necessary for the
crew and for the discharge of the torpedoes. For underwater vision,
an optical tube and a periscope had been provided.
On July 5, 1899, still another submarine boat was launched for the
French Navy. She was called the _Morse_. She was 118 feet long, 9
feet beam, displaced 146 tons, and was likewise made of "Roma"
bronze. The motive power was electricity and in many other respects
she was very similar to the _Gustave Zédé_, embodying, however, a
number of improvements. M. Calmette, who accompanied the French
Minister of War on the trial trip of the _Morse_, described his
experience in the Paris _Figaro_ as follows:
General André, Dr. Vincent, a naval doctor, and I entered the
submarine boat _Morse_ through the narrow opening in the upper
surface of the boat. Our excursion was to begin immediately; in
two hours we came to the surface of the water again three miles
to the north to rejoin the _Narval_. Turning to the crew, every
man of which was at his post, the commandant gave his orders,
dwelling with emphasis on each word. A sailor repeated his orders
one by one, and all was silent. The _Morse_ had already started
on its mysterious voyage, but was skimming along the surface
until outside the port in order to avoid the numerous craft in
the Arsenal. To say that at this moment, which I had so keenly
anticipated, I did not have the tremor which comes from contact
with the unknown would be beside the truth. On the other hand,
calm and imperturbable, but keenly curious as to this novel form
of navigation, General André had already taken his place near
the commandant on a folding seat. There were no chairs in this
long tube in which we were imprisoned. Everything was arranged
for the crew alone, with an eye to serious action. Moreover, the
Minister of War was too tall to stand upright beneath the iron
ceiling, and in any case it would be impossible to walk about.
The only free space was a narrow passage, sixty centimetres
broad, less than two metres high, and thirty metres long, divided
into three equal sections. In the first, in the forefront of the
tube, reposed the torpedoes, with the machine for launching them,
which at a distance of from 500 to 600 metres were bound to sink,
with the present secret processes, the largest of ironclads. In
the second section were the electric accumulators which gave the
light and power. In the third, near the screw, was the electric
motor which transformed into movement the current of the
accumulators. Under all this, beneath the floor, from end to end,
were immense water ballasts, which were capable of being emptied
or filled in a few seconds by electric machines, in order to
carry the vessel up or down. Finally, in the centre of the tube,
dominating these three sections, which the electric light
inundated, and which no partition divided, the navigating
lieutenant stood on the lookout giving his orders.
There was but one thing which could destroy in a second all the
sources of authority, initiative, and responsibility in this
officer. That was the failure of the accumulators. Were the
electricity to fail everything would come to a stop. Darkness
would overtake the boat and imprison it for ever in the water. To
avoid any such disaster there have been arranged, it is true,
outside the tube and low down, a series of lead blades which were
capable of being removed from within to lighten the vessel. But
admitting that the plunger would return to the surface, the boat
would float hither and thither, and at all events lose all its
properties as a submarine vessel. To avoid any such disaster a
combination of motors have been in course of construction for
some months, so that the accumulators might be loaded afresh on
the spot, in case of their being used up.
The _Morse_, after skimming along the surface of the water until
outside the port, was now about to sink. The commandant's place
was no longer in the helmet or kiosque whence he could direct the
route along the surface of the sea. His place was henceforth in
the very centre of the tube, in the midst of all sort of electric
manipulators, his eyes continually fixed on a mysterious optical
apparatus, the periscope. The other extremity of this instrument
floated on the surface of the water, and whatever the depth of
the plunge it gave him a perfectly faithful and clear
representation, as in a camera, of everything occurring on the
water.
The most interesting moment of all now came. I hastened to the
little opening to get the impression of total immersion. The
lieutenant by the marine chart verified the depths. The casks of
water were filled and our supply of air was thereby renewed from
their stores of surplus air. In our tiny observatory, where
General André stationed himself above me, a most unexpected
spectacle presented itself as the boat was immersed.
The plunge was so gentle that in the perfect silence of the
waters one did not perceive the process of descent, and there was
only an instrument capable of indicating, by a needle, the depth
to which the _Morse_ was penetrating. The vessel was advancing
while at the same time it descended, but there was no sensation
of either advance or roll. As to respiration, it was as perfect
as in any room. M. de Lanessan, who since entering office has
ordered eight more submarine vessels, had concerned himself with
the question as a medical man also, and, thanks to the labours of
a commission formed by him, the difficulties of respiration were
entirely solved. The crew were able to remain under water sixteen
hours without the slightest strain. Our excursion on this
occasion lasted scarcely two hours. Towards noon, by means of
the mysterious periscope, which, always invisible, floated on the
surface and brought to the vessel below a reflection of all that
passed up above, the captain showed us the _Narval_, which had
just emerged with its two flags near the old battery
_Impregnable_. From the depths in which we were sailing we
watched its slightest manoeuvres until the admiral's flag, waving
on the top of a fort, reminded us that it was time to return.
[Illustration: _The Submarine's Perfect Work._
_Painting by John E. Whiting._]