35-013 CSS H. L. HUNLEY, CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE

The CSS HL Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America (CSA) fleet during the Civil War (1861-1865). The vessel was built at the Park and Lyons shipyard in 1863. The ship was 12 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and had a displacement of 6.8 tons. The maximum speed was up to 4 knots. The ship was armed with a single towing mine (torpedo) or a towed mine. During the Civil War, the CSA fleet, unable to cope with the numerical superiority of the US fleet, tried to compensate for it using avant-garde and often unconventional ship designs. One example is the CSS HL Hunley - the first ever submarine to sink an enemy vessel. It was made of steel and was powered by a screw, turned by hand by a crew of 9 people. Shortly after launching, it turned out to be not a very safe vessel, which had considerable problems with the descent and ascent mechanism. The most famous CSS HL Hunley action took place on February 17, 1864, when the USS Housatonic sloop was sunk. However, this action also turned out to be his last, as it sank a few minutes after the attack, and the reasons for this fact are still a matter of dispute today. It is worth adding that in August 2000 the CSS HL Hunley wreck was excavated from the sea and renovated.