E-Paper
Silent sentinels-II
In my article last week I had stated that the submarine is an accepted and useful weapon of war that a nation with submarine power is a nation with sea power. A brief history is important to learn about the great men of centuries gone by who with limited resources, without CAD/CAM could still dream up such fantasies which have since come true.
In my article last week I had stated that the submarine is an accepted and useful weapon of war that a nation with submarine power is a nation with sea power. A brief history is important to learn about the great men of centuries gone by who with limited resources, without CAD/CAM could still dream up such fantasies which have since come true.
1578—William Bourne of Gravesend produced the first published design of a practical submersible. However, no record has ever been found of such a craft actually having been built.
1620—A Dutchman, Cornelius Von Drebbel is possibly recorded as the first man to have actually made some sort of craft that one could call a ‘Submersible’. He even actually demonstrated its working to King James 1. It was propelled by oars with leather sleeves to provide water proofing at the oar ports and is reported to have had some substance to purify the air. He called it ‘Quintessance of Air’. It was possibly some form of lime water to remove carbon dioxide. It is reported to have navigated in the River Thames at a depth of 3.6-5 metres for several hours. No diagrammatic record is available.
1776—An American Dr David Bushnell designed one of the first successful submarines to be used. His submarine was pear shaped and called the Turtle.
The boat was operated by a single crewman via a two blade propeller. It had features such as an adjustable buoyancy, a depth gauge, a compass of sorts and twin snort masts through which fresh air was inducted and exhausted.
BUSHNELL'S TURTLE
The name of the crewman was Sergeant Ezralee. The craft was armed with a keg of gun powder. The plan was for the operator to crank his way to enemy ship and leave the keg with a time fuse attached to the hull of the ship. It was to sink Lord Howe's flag ship, the HMS Eagle, which was blockading New York harbour during the American war of Independence. There was just one problem though and that was that Bushnell never worked out a method of attaching his keg of gun powder to the copper sheathed British hull. The attack failed.
Meanwhile though, Lord Howe having received some intelligence of such a fantasy craft, began worrying about the safely of his flag ship. He sailed out and let the blockade be lifted.
1800—Robert Fulton built an improved version of a submarine and called it the Nautilus.
FULTON'S NAUTILUS
He offered it to Napoleun Bonaparte of France who turned down the offer because it only had a top speed of 2 knots. This submarine reached a depth of a depth of 7.5 Meters for an hour on 03 Jul 1801.
1805—England then bought this craft and paid Robert Fulton a handsome sum of money. However, England did not use this craft because she was afraid that a successful submarine would do her more harm than good if her enemies copied it. The logic is yet to be understood. Finally, the submarine was returned to Fulton. He offered it to America who also turned it down.
