Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or informally to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, or to medium-sized or smaller vessels. Submarines are referred to as boats rather than ships regardless of their size.
Although experimental submarines had been built earlier, submarine design took off during the 19th century, and submarines were adopted by several navies. They were first used widely during World War I, and are now used in many navies, large and small. Their military uses include: attacking enemy surface ships or other submarines; aircraft carrier protection; blockade running; nuclear deterrence; stealth operations in denied areas when gathering intelligence and doing reconnaissance; denying or influencing enemy movements; conventional land attacks ; and covert insertion of frogmen or special forces. Their civilian uses include: marine science; salvage; exploration; and facility inspection and maintenance. Submarines can be modified for specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions and undersea cable repair. They are also used in the tourism industry and in undersea archaeology. Modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which evolved from the diving bell.
Most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is called the "sail" in American usage and "fin" in European usage. A feature of earlier designs was the "conning tower": a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that enabled the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins. Smaller, deep-diving, and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional design. Submarines dive and resurface by using diving planes and by changing the amount of water and air in ballast tanks to affect their buoyancy.
Submarines encompass a wide range of types and capabilities. They range from small, autonomous examples, such as one- or two-person subs that operate for a few hours, to vessels that can remain submerged for six months, such as the Russian . Submarines can work at depths that are greater than what is practicable for human divers.
History
Etymology
The word submarine means 'underwater' or 'under-sea' though as a noun it generally refers to a vessel that can travel underwater. The term is a contraction of submarine boat and occurs as such in several languages, e.g. French, and Spanish, although others retain the original term, such as Dutch, German, Swedish, and Russian, all of which mean 'submarine boat'. By naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships, regardless of their size. Although referred to informally as boats, U.S. submarines employ the designation USS at the beginning of their names, such as. In the Royal Navy, the designation HMS can refer to "His Majesty's Ship" or "His Majesty's Submarine", though the latter is sometimes rendered "HMS/m". Submarines are generally referred to as boats rather than ships.Early human-powered submersibles
16th and 17th centuries
According to a report in Opusculum Taisnieri published in 1562:In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle. A few years later the Scottish mathematician and theologian John Napier wrote in his Secret Inventions that "These inventions besides devises of sayling under water with divers other devises and strategems for harming of the enemyes by the Grace of God and worke of expert Craftsmen I hope to perform." It is unclear whether he carried out his idea.
Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont created detailed designs for two types of air-renovated submersible vehicles. They were equipped with oars, autonomous floating snorkels worked by inner pumps, portholes and gloves used for the crew to manipulate underwater objects. Ayanaz planned to use them for warfare, using them to approach enemy ships undetected and set up timed gunpowder charges on their hulls.
The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutchman in the service of James I of England. It was propelled by means of oars.
18th century
By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England. In 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft. A mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemen's Magazine reported that a similar design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. Further design improvement stagnated for over a century, until application of new technologies for propulsion and stability.The first military submersible was , a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person. It was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion.
19th century
In 1800, France built, a human-powered submarine designed by American Robert Fulton. They gave up on the experiment in 1804, as did the British, when they reconsidered Fulton's submarine design.In 1850, Wilhelm Bauer's was built in Germany. It remains the oldest known surviving submarine in the world.
In 1864, late in the American Civil War, the Confederate navy's became the first military submarine to sink an enemy vessel, the Union sloop-of-war, using a gun-powder-filled keg on a spar as a torpedo charge. The Hunley also sank. The explosion's shock waves may have killed its crew instantly, preventing them from pumping the bilge or propelling the submarine.
In 1866, was the first submarine to successfully dive, cruise underwater, and resurface under the crew's control. The design by German American Julius H. Kroehl incorporated elements that are still used in modern submarines.
In 1866, was built at the Chilean government's request by Karl Flach, a German engineer and immigrant. It was the fifth submarine built in the world and, along with a second submarine, was intended to defend the port of Valparaiso against attack by the Spanish Navy during the Chincha Islands War.
Mechanically powered submarines
Submarines could not be put into widespread or routine service use by navies until suitable engines were developed. The era from 1863 to 1904 marked a pivotal time in submarine development, and several important technologies appeared. A number of nations built and used submarines. Diesel electric propulsion became the dominant power system and equipment such as the periscope became standardized. Countries conducted many experiments on effective tactics and weapons for submarines, which led to their large impact in World War I.1863–1904
The first submarine not relying on human power for propulsion was the French , launched in 1863, which used compressed air at. Narcís Monturiol designed the first air-independent and combustion-powered submarine,, which was launched in Barcelona, Spain in 1864.The submarine became feasible as potential weapon with the development of the Whitehead torpedo, designed in 1866 by British engineer Robert Whitehead, the first practical self-propelled torpedo. The spar torpedo that had been developed earlier by the Confederate States Navy was considered to be impracticable, as it was believed to have sunk both its intended target, and H. L. Hunley, the submarine that deployed it.
The Irish inventor John Philip Holland built a model submarine in 1876 and in 1878 demonstrated the Holland I prototype. This was followed by a number of unsuccessful designs. In 1896, he designed the Holland Type VI submarine, which used internal combustion engine power on the surface and electric battery power underwater. Launched on 17 May 1897 at Navy Lt. Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Holland VI was purchased by the United States Navy on 11 April 1900, becoming the Navy's first commissioned submarine, christened.
Discussions between the English clergyman and inventor George Garrett and the Swedish industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt led to the first practical steam-powered submarines, armed with torpedoes and ready for military use. The first was Nordenfelt I, a 56-tonne, vessel similar to Garrett's ill-fated , with a range of, armed with a single torpedo, in 1885.
File:Peral1888.jpg|thumb|Peral at Cartagena, 1888
A reliable means of propulsion for the submerged vessel was only made possible in the 1880s with the advent of the necessary electric battery technology. The first electrically powered boats were built by Isaac Peral y Caballero in Spain, Dupuy de Lôme and Gustave Zédé in France, and James Franklin Waddington in England. Peral's design featured torpedoes and other systems that later became standard in submarines.
Commissioned in June 1900, the French steam and electric employed the now typical double-hull design, with a pressure hull inside the outer shell. These 200-ton ships had a range of over underwater. The French submarine Aigrette in 1904 further improved the concept by using a diesel rather than a gasoline engine for surface power. Large numbers of these submarines were built, with seventy-six completed before 1914.
The Royal Navy commissioned five s from Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, under licence from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company from 1901 to 1903. Construction of the boats took longer than anticipated, with the first only ready for a diving trial at sea on 6 April 1902. Although the design had been purchased entirely from the US company, the actual design used was an untested improvement to the original Holland design using a new petrol engine.
These types of submarines were first used during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. Due to the blockade at Port Arthur, the Russians sent their submarines to Vladivostok, where by 1 January 1905 there were seven boats, enough to create the world's first "operational submarine fleet". The new submarine fleet began patrols on 14 February, usually lasting for about 24 hours each. The first confrontation with Japanese warships occurred on 29 April 1905 when the Russian submarine Som was fired upon by Japanese torpedo boats, but then withdrew.