H.L. Hunley

On February 17, 1864, the Confederate torpedo boat and submarine H. L. Hunley attacked and sank the Union warship U.S.S. Housatonic, becoming the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship. Built in Mobile, Alabama, in 1863, the Hunley was shipped by railroad to Charleston, South Carolina, on August 12, 1863, for a mission to break the Union blockade of Charleston Harbor and restore supplies to the city. Three training runs in late 1863 ended in tragedy and killed a combined 14 crew members, including financier and namesake Horace L. Hunley. The vessel barely submerged below the water surface, carried a spar-mounted torpedo on the bow, and was powered by eight crewmen turning a hand-cranked propeller to reach about 4 knots on the surface. The actual submarine was discovered by Clive Cussler in 1995, buried deep in sand and silt just outside Charleston Harbor, and after being lost at sea for 137 years, it was raised from the Atlantic Ocean on August 8, 2000. Since then, the South Carolina Hunley Commission and the Friends of the Hunley have worked to unlock its mysteries, and it is on display to the public in Charleston.

Mobile, Alabama · United States