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To: TXnMA

Hadn’t seen that first photo since the Centennial. There was a reference to it in “The Civil War in Pictures” (1955) which was a study of accuracy in reportage when newspaper reportage artistry made up for the relative lack of photographs (but the surviving photos bring the war back to the present, as noted earlier). But IIRC, the David boats unlike the Hunley were not true submarines but operated with their bulk just beneath the surface (how else to keep the fires going?).

The more we discover, the more we are amazed.


118 posted on 01/16/2012 5:39:09 PM PST by elcid1970 ("Deport all Muslims. Nuke Mecca now. Death to Islam means freedom for all mankind.")
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To: elcid1970
True. The steam-powered "Davids" were "semi-submersibles", which means they were designed to operate like the Hunley was forced to operate after Beauregard's edict.

Dixon (& McClintock?) and co. were smart to adopt the David's vertically-pivoting spar for the Hunley -- and even smarter when they chose to use an attachable, "leave-behind", lanyard-triggered design for the torpedo -- instead of the David's contact-fused torpedo.

119 posted on 01/16/2012 5:55:36 PM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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