Posted on 09/07/2021 9:11:17 AM PDT by mylife
On September 7, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship Eagle in New York Harbor. It was the first use of a submarine in warfare.
Donated to the Patriot cause after the outbreak of war with Britain in 1775, Ezra Lee piloted the craft unnoticed out to the 64-gun HMS Eagle in New York Harbor on September 7, 1776. As Lee worked to anchor a time bomb to the hull, he could see British seamen on the deck above, but they failed to notice the strange craft below the surface. Lee had almost secured the bomb when his boring tools failed to penetrate a layer of iron sheathing. He retreated, and the bomb exploded nearby, causing no harm to either the Eagle or the Turtle.
During the next week, the Turtle made several more attempts to sink British ships on the Hudson River, but each time it failed, owing to the operator’s lack of skill. Only Bushnell was really able to competently execute the submarine’s complicated functions, but because of his physical frailty he was unable to pilot the Turtle in any of its combat missions. During the Battle of Fort Lee, the Turtle was lost when the American sloop transporting it was sunk by the British.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Submarines have come a long way since 245 years ago today.
PING
and oddly it still the same game
“Lee had almost secured the bomb when his boring tools failed to penetrate a layer of iron sheathing.”
So it can be said that his mission wasn’t boring.
A mighty vessel, I dig the side arm at the ready
all missions are boring, punctuated with moments of terror.
Wow. From the diagram, it’s basically “a man in a can”. the operator appears to be sealed in based on what look like locking nuts on the “lid”.
The show Turn has a great episode where this device was used. Neat to see what it would have looked like in practice...
Yep. No quick release hatch for the pilgrim.
A wonderful program, g Washington was a genius, b franklin was a hoot
they never did discover the 6th spy
I was thinking of dating this girl I met. She’s an marine biologist who works on a submarine.
But between you and me, I think she’s a little out of my league.
With occasional release of the rudder to pump in air to breathe, it looks like.
It looks amazing that anyone survived operating it.
I think you missed the pun...
Right to keep and bear submarines then, given Progressives’ argument that only weapons of the time are covered.
**The Connecticut River Museum has both a cut away display that you can sit in and feel what it was actually like to be inside the Turtle and a full scale replica that was hand made for the 1976 bicentennial. They tested the machine in a nearby harbor, and it is said to have worked beautifully.**
I bought one of those submarines they advertised in the back of comic books.
I took it out to the ocean and launched it.
I took it down 300 feet, but the pressure got to be too much on the cardboard.
Luckily, the nuclear reactor held up and I got back to port.
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