The Alligator
A number of submarines were utilized by the US Navy in the Civil War. They included the ill-fated craft Alligator. The Alligator wasthe first active submarine of the US Navy. The oddball 46-foot long craft was designed by French inventor Brutus DeVilleroi and was originally oar-powered by a 17-man crew. The Alligator used two different types of human propulsion but never was successful. She was never taken in commission and had no wartime combat record. She ultimately foundered and sank. One of her captains, Lt. Thomas O. Selfridge, was later to be another naval first when his future command the USS Cairo was the first ship sunk by a naval mine.
The Explorer
Julius Kroehl, a German born New York inventor came up with a 36 foot submarine he dubbed the Explorer. The small ship was unique in the fact that it was the first known submersible to have a diver lock out system. Kroehl attempted to sell the vessel to the Union Navy in 1864. Subsequently he took the ship to Panama and it was used for three years harvesting pearls from as low as 100 feet underwater. Her crews along with her inventor died of a fever whose symptoms describe nitrogen poisoning (the bends) and she was abandoned on the beach off Isla San Telmo in the Pearl Islands of Panama's Pacific coast.
The Intelligent Whale
Later Union designs included the post war Intelligent Whale which had some 12 years of trials and experiments. Designed in 1863 the roughly 29-foot iron submarine did not become operational during the war. She was never commissioned but was used extensively in naval tests. One such test in 1866 encompassed a suited diver who planted a mine that successfully destroyed a target derelict. The craft is still maintained as a museum piece and is the oldest US Naval submersible. The first submarine actually commissioned by the US Navy was the USS Holland (SS-1) in 1900.
Sources:
Bale, Joanna American Civil War submarine found A unique boat from 1864 may have inspired Jules Verne to create Captain Nemo's vessel Nautilus, The Times London June 6, 2005
Cartmell, Donald The Civil War up close: thousands of curious, obscure, and fascinating facts about the war America could never win. Career Press, 2005
Chaffin, Tom The H.L.Hunley McMillian 2008
DANFS- Dictionary of Naval Fighting Ships Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center, Washington Naval Yard.
Delgado, James and Cussler, Cliver Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks Douglas & McIntyre, 2004
Department of Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Museum, Report on the wreck of the Sub Marine Explorer (1865) at Isla SanTelmo, Archipielago de las Perlas, Panama, and the 2006 fieldwork season. Report—No. 221. 2007
Owen, David Anti-submarine warfare: an illustrated history Naval Institute Press, 2007
Ragan, Mark K Submarine warfare in the Civil War. Da Capo Press, 2003
Veit, Chuck Submarines in the Civil War
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