Illegal Warfare: Submarines During The Civil War

During the Civil War our nation was split between the North and South. Just like any other war in history each side was trying to get an upper hand on the other, even if it was illegal. Many wars through history had illegal warfare and tactics that was used to win the war. One would wonder what could be used in the Civil War that was illegal in warfare at the time? The answer was submarines, yes submarines, which was not a widely known warfare tactic until World War II with the German U-Boats. These underwater crafts were first documented in 1623 by Dutchman Cornelius Drebbel. It was built for pleasure and not warfare at the time. It was not until 1654 that the first submarine was built for warfare. It was called Rotterdam Boat, it was seventy …show more content…
This submarine was built by a Yale graduate by the name of David Bushnell. He named it the Turtle because it looked like a sea turtle floating vertically in the water. This ship was made out of a wood hull that was eight foot long and was just big enough for one operator. It was entirely hand powered and featured lead ballast tanks for balance. This craft was manned by Ezra Lee, and on September 7 1776, Lee piloted the Turtle unnoticed out to the sixty-four gun HMS Eagle that was stationed in New York Harbor. As Lee got to the Eagle he tried to anchor a time bomb to the hull of the ship. Lee could even see the British seaman above him but they failed to notice the strange object in the water. Lee was just about to secure the bomb to the hull of the ship, till his boring tool failed to penetrate iron sheathing of the ship. So Lee retreated and the bomb exploded nearby, neither the Eagle or the Turtle were damaged. So the first attack with a submarine failed to destroy its target but was successful because the Eagle was moved out of the harbor. After the first attempted attack Lee was too frail and failed to man the Turtle any more, so they got another operator. The Turtle tried to sink multiple other British ships in the Hudson River, but do to the complicated instruments to man the craft and they new operator, they failed. The Turtle was lost when the …show more content…
The Union and Confederacy both used submarine in the war, but for different reasons. Yet both knew that underwater warfare was practically illegal at the time. These underwater crafts were called “Infernal Machines” by the North. The Government was publicly degrading underwater warfare, so when they participated in it, it had to be done in secret. The Official Records from this time period show no involvement in submarines but yet there are numerous calls of secrecy on the subject of submarines. The most well known Union submarine was called the Alligator. The inventor of this craft was a Frenchman by the name of Brutus de Villeroi and was built in Philadelphia.(Weaver) Villeroi convinced the US Navy tht he could build a submersible warship that could deploy a diver to attach explosive charges to the underside of enemy ships. Six months later in November of 1861 the US Navy contracted him to build the Union’s first submarine. The Alligator was built to counter the Confederate the threat of the ironclad, the Virginia. The Navy specified that the construction of this sub would last no longer than forty day and fourteen thousand dollars, but the project suffered long delays. The finished Alligator was said to be thirty foot long and six or eight foot in diameter. It was made of iron, with the upper part pierced for small circular plates of glass, for light, and in it were several