I remember reading a book as a kid about submarines used in the civil war, was that real or did I dream up historical facts after reading too many American girl books?
No, you're remembering correctly! Although to say that submarines were used in the Civil War is perhaps a little bit of an overstatement... it's more accurate to say that submarines were an abject failure during the Civil War.
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Meet the CSS Hunley, the first submarine developed in the United States! The Civil War is a time when the pieces of modern warfare are being hammered out, with some exciting new inventions! The CSS Hunley is not one of these.
We have ironclads, which were the first armored ships, and torpedoes, which we would now think of as mines. These torpedoes were explosives that would be triggered upon contact, and they were used both on land and under water. The Hunley was armed with some of these devices, and her goal was to slip under an enemy ship and detonate them. You'll notice a flaw in this plan, which is that this requires the submarine to be awfully close to the explosion that it's setting off...
All new ideas need some kinks ironed out, and the Hunley was no exception. Unfortunately, the only way to commence with that ironing was to load her up with men to test her seaworthiness. She sank on:
A test run in August 1863, killing five crew members
During October, 1863, killing all eight crew members, including her inventor and namesake, Horace Lawson Hunley
In February, 1864, after detonating a mine and sinking an enemy boat, killing all eight crew
Having to haul her up and remove the bodies of her drowned crew was proving decidedly unhealthy for troop morale. After the second sinking, Confederate general PGT Beauregard ordered that she no longer operate below the waterline in an attempt to minimize further casualties.
The CSS Hunley was abandoned after her third sinking, but her wreckage was located in 1995, and she was retrieved in 2000. A team is working to restore her to be the centerpiece of a new museum.
Submarines, armored ships, torpedoes, trench warfare, repeating rifles, and total warfare are all elements of modern warfare that would next be seen in WWI. Their bloody births during the American Civil War attest to the power of innovation and the progress that would be seen in the century to come.
-Reid
