The Submarine Torpedo Boat
Its Characteristics And Modern Development

The Submarine Torpedo Boat Its Characteristics and Modern Develn _1C Levelopment CHAPTER I EARLY HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT Although the submarine has only recently become rec ognized as being of any practical value in Naval Warfare the first known device of this kind was conceived by a Hollander, Dr. Cornelius van Drebbel 2nd „ Sfn i 1 1: . - LrebbeL, and was con- strutted by him in 1624. This boat was merely a wooden shell, decked over and covered with leather, and fitted up so as to be capable of sinking below the surface of the Water It was a one-man affair and propelled by oars passed through the sides of the boat, and working in flexible leather stuffing-boxes to keep them watertight With tins very crude device Dr. van Drebbel successfully demon strated the practicability of submarine navigation 1; No further developments of any consequence along these lines were effected until taken up “ this country by David Bushnell in 1772. Bushnell, who was then a student at Yale, was the first to invent and construct a submarine boat actually used in warfare. His Turtle, so called be cause of its peculiar shape, was just large enough to accom modate one man in a sitting posture; it was steered in the by Nmd manner and propelled by a screw-propeller turned DY nand from an interior crank Submersion plishe bx submersion was accom- plished by taking on water ballast, and a torpedo was carried outside the hull, so arranged that it could be kis