[Graewoulf]

Thanks for the # 80 ping! Question: Is the thinking that the shock waves from the explosion were mainly directed down due to the position of the explosive at the tapered section of the stern that it contacted?

If so, what would have been the effect on the Hunley compared to hitting the Housatonic at a more vertical ship surface, say at mid section?

[TXnMA]

IIRC, Singer's torpedo actually contained 130 pounds of cannon (large grain) powder, instead of the 90 pounds often discussed. Black powder is a low-VOD explosive, so most of the damage is via pressure, not brisant shock. Since water is basically incompressible, at that depth, the only way the blast pressure could go was upward, into the hull cavity. Even so, the Union Court of Inquiry determined that there was little noise or upward blast -- but the engine ran wild when the prop shaft (in reverse) was severed. And the Housatonic sank rapidly by the stern.

General Beauregard had edicted (after the Hunley stuck its nose in the mud -- killing Hunley and his crew) that attacks must be made on the surface. Dixon and company then adapted the downward-pivoting Y-yoke concept from the (semi-submersible) "David", so that the spike could be driven in deep underwater where it would do some good.

Of course, the torpedo was designed to pull free of the spar, and later be triggered (at a distance) by a lanyard that played out from a spool mounted just aft of the forward hatch on the starboard side.

According to Captain Pickering of the Housatonic, the Hunley was "still awash" at its closest approach -- when he emptied a double-barrel shotgun at the candle light he could see through the Hunley's front viewport. (I've always theorized that he may have been the one who sank the Hunley -- by cracking that viewport. Evidence found inside the Hunley doesn't necessarily support my theory...)