Hunley

More to Explore

People and Groups

Themes

Events

This Day in History

Feb 9

Civil War

Yankee General George Custer marries, 1864

On this day in 1864, Union General George Armstrong Custer marries Elizabeth Bacon in Monroe, Michigan, while the young cavalry officer is on leave.…

Recommended Articles

  • André-Gustave Citroën

    (born Feb. 5, 1878, Paris, France—died July 3, 1935, Paris) French engineer and industrialist who introduced Henry Ford's methods of mass production to the European automobile industry.

  • Tuskegee Airmen

    Tuskegee Airmen

    The Tuskegee Airmen were black servicemen of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and constituted the first African-American flying unit in U.S. history.

  • Montgomery C. Meigs

    (born May 3, 1816, Augusta, Ga., U.S.—died Jan. 2, 1892, Washington, D.C.) U.S. engineer and architect, who, as quartermaster general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, was responsible for the purchase and distribution of vital supplies to Union troops.

  • James B. Eads

    (born May 23, 1820, Lawrenceburg, Ind., U.S.—died March 8, 1887, Nassau, Bahamas) American engineer best known for his triple-arch steel bridge over the Mississippi River at St.

First submarine to sink an enemy ship. Operated from 1863 to 1864, it was a Confederate invention of the American Civil War.

The Hunley was designed and built at Mobile, Alabama, and named for its chief financial backer, Horace L. Hunley. Less than 40 feet (12 metres) long, the submarine held nine crewmen, eight of whom propelled the vessel by hand-cranking a single screw. Its commander controlled steering and depth. The Hunley was shipped by rail in 1863 to Charleston, South Carolina, where, in practice runs and attempts to attack blockading Union warships, it went to the bottom three times with great loss of life—including that of Hunley himself. Raised one more time, it successfully attacked the Union sloop Housatonic with a spar torpedo on February 17, 1864, sinking the vessel. The Hunley, however, was lost shortly after the attack, along with all its crewmen. The vessel lay in only 30 feet (9 metres) of water some 4 miles (6 km) offshore until it was found by preservationists in 1995. It was raised intact in 2000 and brought ashore so that the crewmen's remains could be removed for burial and the vessel itself restored for eventual display at the Charleston Museum.

Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com.

Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!

Advertisement

Shop HISTORY

See More