With the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate Navy began an immediate program to develop a submarine. The concept of a submarine had obvious benefits, and represented an extremely innovative way for the Confederacy to overcome the large Union naval blockade. A submarine testing operation was active in New Orleans prior to the city’s occupation by the Union Army in 1862, with Horace L. Hunley and James R. McClintock being prominent figures in the submarine design effort. From among the first submarine design attempts, a vessel known as the Pioneer was produced. Horace L. Hunley was one of the Pioneer’s chief designers. The Pioneer sank accidentally during an initial experiment with explosives. With the fall of New Orleans, the Confederate submarine production effort was moved to the more secure location of Mobile Bay. At this point, Hunley became the principle financial backer for the submarine design program.

Mobile was an ideal location for further submarine testing by Hunley and McClintock, with ample supplies of high quality iron ore being available from Northern Alabama, and finished iron products coming from Confederate ironworks such as Tannehill and Brierfield. Furthermore, the relatively shallow waters of Mobile Bay were ideal for sea trails to be conducted, and the heavy guns of Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan provided protection from the Union Navy. Operations were set up in the Parks and Lyons Machine Shop, which was located in the area of Mobile's present day federal building. The second vessel built by Hunley the called the Pioneer II.  It was similar in most respects to the first submarine, but sank in Mobile Bay while carrying explosives in an attempt to disrupt the Union blockade.

The third vessel built by Hunley took on the name of its chief builder. The predominate part of the structure of the H. L.Hunley was made from an old iron boiler, and was twenty-five feet in length and four feet in diameter. A crew of seven had to provide propulsion for the submarine by a central manual crankshaft that powered the propeller. A major design weakness of the Hunley was a failure to store air for the crew. During one of the submarine’s experimental sea trials, it sank to the bottom of Mobile Bay and caused the entire crew to suffocate. However, it sank in shallow water and was raised fully intact. After being made operational again, the Hunley was taken by rail on two platform cars to Charleston, South Carolina in September of 1863. By this point, the Union blockade around Charleston had become very effective.

After arrival in Charleston and acceptance by General P.T.G. Beauregard, who was the local Confederate commander, a crew of seven under Lieutenant John Payne was assembled to attack the Union fleet off Charleston. Over the next several weeks, the Hunley sank twice, and caused the deaths of ten men from two separate crews. Finally, Lieutenant George E. Dixon from Alabama was put in command of the Hunley. Dixon received permission and began an operation to attack the Union gunboat USS Housatonic. On February 17, 1864 the Hunley became the first submarine in history to successfully sink another ship, when it employed a torpedo to sink the Housatonic. However, the Hunley could not escape the force of the torpedo’s explosion, and was also sent to the bottom of Charleston Harbor.

The Confederate Navy: A Pictorial History by Phillip Van Doren Stern

The Alabama Confederate Reader by Malcolm C. McMillian

Copyright (c) 2001 Frederick Bush