Hunley

H.L. Hunley, often referred to as Hunley or as CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship, USS Housatonic, although Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her successful attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to base. The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of Hunley during her short career. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, SC.

Hunley, nearly 40 ft long, was built at Mobile, AL, and launched in July 1863. She was then shipped by rail on August 12, 1863, to Charleston. Hunley, then referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat", or the "porpoise", sank on August 29, 1863, during a test run, killing five members of her crew. She sank again on October 15, 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Lawson Hunley himself, who was aboard at the time, even though he was not a member of the Confederate military. Both times Hunley was raised and returned to service.

On February 17, 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1,240-displacement ton US Navy screw sloop-of-war Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade duty in Charleston's outer harbor. Hunley did not survive the attack and also sank, taking with her all eight members of her third crew, and was lost.

Finally located in 1995, Hunley was raised in 2000, and is on display in North Charleston, SC, at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River. Examination in 2012 of recovered Hunley artifacts suggests that the submarine was as close as 20 ft to her target, Housatonic, when her deployed torpedo exploded, which caused the submarine's own loss.

Hunley (circled) and Housatonic replicas

Hunley: Crew 8. Size: Approximately 40 feet long, 3.5 feet wide and 4 feet high. Displacement: 7 tons. Armament: A spar torpedo.

Housatonic: Crew: 160. Size: 207 feet long and 37 feet wide. Displacement: 1,240 tons. Armament: A 100-pounder Parrot rifle, an 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore, three 30-pounder Parrot rifles, two 32-pounder smoothbores, two 24-pounder howitzers, a 12-pound howitzer, and a 12-pounder rifle.

The Pioneer

Pioneer

The story of the Hunley actually began in New Orleans, LA, when Horace L. Hunley joined James McClintock and Baxter Watson in their venture to build a weapon that traveled underneath the water. Their first attempt was a vessel called the Pioneer, which was ready for testing in February 1862.

The Pioneer proved seaworthy, but was never put into service. Final tests were underway when, in the Spring of 1862, Union forces closed in on New Orleans. The designers were force to scuttle the Pioneer to prevent the enemy from confiscating the new technology.

Fleeing New Orleans, the Pioneer's inventors went to Mobile, AL determined to design another submersible vessel. There the Hunley was build and later sent to Charleston where she would alter the course of military history.

Almost immediately after taking control of New Orleans, the Union found the Pioneer and studied the vessel. In 1868, the remains were offered at public auction, where she was sold for 43 dollars.

The Pioneer and the lessons learned from her testing helped the Hunley accomplish her mission. Over a century later, the Pioneer's symbolic contribution to the development of submarine technology was honored with the creation of this full-scale replica.