A DETAILED HISTORY OF SUBMARINES

THE FIRST SUBMARINE

• When was the first submarine made? The first submarine was made in 1620 by Cornelius Jacobzoon Drebel.
• It was a civilian submarine propelled by oars and was made of wood.

A later submarine used in the American Revolutionary War looked like a large wine barrel with with a propeller, a seat inside, and a metal cap on it. It was supposed to go up to a British war ship and plant a bomb on it, but the sub sunk. The sub was made by a man named David Bushnell.

SUBMARINES FROM THE 1800'S

• The first submarines used in the American Civil War was a submarine named The Pioneer.
• In the beginning of the civil war the confederate government allowed certain citizens to use armed warships as privateers.
• Two of these citizens were Horace Hunley and James McClintock. Hunley and McClintock made the The Pioneer and it was one of the first submarine to be used in the civil war.
• Most of theses submarines made in the 1800's were made of wood, but in the late 1800's, they were almost all made of metal.

SUBMARINES FROM THE 1900'S

• This submarine was called the Holland and was used from the 1890's to the early 1900's
• This exact submarine was the first submarine ever used in the US navy.
• It was more advanced than any of the previous submarines.
• The Holland had many versions and was the submarine most used in WW1

WORLD WAR 2

• The main submarine used by America in WW2 was the Gato Class submarine. The first Gato Sub, the USS Gato was launched in 1941.
• WW2 subs were pretty much just surface ships that could travel underwater for a limited time.
• Above water, they used Diesel engines, which carried them far in a short time, but underwater, they had to use electric engines which had small batteries.

FACTS

• In WW1, the US Navy had 29 subs in commission.
• In WW2, submarines made up less than 2% of the US Navy, but sunk over 30% of the Japanese Navy

NUCLEAR SUBMARINES

• Nuclear reactor engines were much more powerful than the electric engines.
• Most nuclear submarines carry nuclear warheads.
• Modern submarines are known as the "silent service" and are used in war and peace for commando insertion, hidden espionage, rescue missions, and carry very powerful weapons.
• Nuclear Subs are very important in war.

IF SUBMARINES DIDN'T EXIST

• If submarines didn't exist, we would know very little to nothing about the bottom of the ocean, and we couldn't have found famous ships such as the Titanic.

POSITIVES/NEGATIVES

• Submarines have come a long way since the first one in 1620. We now can go miles underwater, transport nuclear warheads, and explore deep underwater areas to discover new things.
• The older submarines almost always filled up with water, killing the crews inside.
• We also might not have beat the Japanese in World War 2, so submarines are very important.

SOURCES

• History.com
• Navy.mil
• Google Images
• Americanhistory.si.edu
• World-nuclear.org
• National interest.org
• Navy.org