Reynolds Aluminaut Submarine - Early Submarines

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Reynolds Aluminaut Submarine - Early Submarines
Reynolds Aluminaut Submarine - Early Submarines

Science Museum of Virginia

A submarine is a ship designed to operate and navigate under its own power underwater. A true submarine has self-contained life support, propulsion and buoyancy control systems.

Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebel built the first known submarine in 1620. Built of wood and covered with leather, Drebel's craft carried 12 oarsmen and several passengers below the surface of the Thames in London. Oxygen was supplied by tubes connected to the surface allowing it to stay submerged at shallow depths for hours at a time.

In 1775 David Bushnell, an American engineer, developed a submarine called Turtle. The egg-shaped Turtle was operated by a hand-cranked propeller, employed hand-pumped ballast tanks and had no air supply. It could only remain submerged for about 30 minutes. The Turtle was the first military submarine. Intended for use against the British during the American Revolution, it never succeeded in sinking any target.

In 1800 the American inventor Robert Fulton built a submarine called Nautilus. The Nautilus was shaped much like a modern submarine. Fulton's design included diving planes for horizontal and vertical control and compressed air for life support and ballast control. It was powered underwater by a hand-cranked propeller, and on the surface by a sail.

During the American Civil War, the Confederate Army produced four military submarines. Each was built of iron and powered by a hand-cranked propeller. One of the submarines, the Huntley, attacked the Union's USS Housatanic in 1864. Both vessels sank as a result of the attack.

John P. Holland dramatically advanced the development of submarines. The Irish-American inventor began designing and building submarines in the late 1800s. His submarine, the Holland, was launched in 1898 and employed a gasoline motor for surface cruising and an electric motor for underwater cruising. The Holland became the first U.S. Navy submarine in 1900. John P. Holland's company eventually became the Electric Boat Company, which launched Aluminaut in 1964.

Simon Lake, an American engineer, was also developing the design of the submarine in the late 1800s. In 1887 he launched the Argonaut, the first submarine to operate successfully in the open ocean. Simon Lake sailed the Argonaut from Norfolk, Virginia, to New York in 1898. Towards the end of his life, Lake met J. Louis Reynolds and helped inspire the design of Aluminaut.

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Taken on: January 19, 2013
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