This article is about watercraft designed for submerged operation. For other uses, see Submarine (disambiguation).Submarine

US Virginia-class submarine underway in Groton, Connecticut, July 2004Classification WatercraftIndustry ArmsApplication Underwater warfareInventor Cornelis Drebbel[1]Invented 1620 (406 years ago)

Russian Akula-class submarine of the Northern Fleet, in 2008

World War II fleet submarine (Gato, Balao or Tench class), commissioned 1941–1945The first nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571), commissioned 1954The ballistic missile submarine USS George Washington (SSBN-598), commissioned 1959A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.)[2] 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 (such as the midget submarine and the wet sub). Submarines are referred to as boats rather than ships regardless of their size.[3]

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 (1914–1918), and are now used in many navies, large and small. Their military uses include: attacking enemy surface ships (merchant and military) 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 (for example, launching a cruise missile); 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 (or conical) 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 (or pump jet) 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 Typhoon class (the biggest submarines ever built). Submarines can work at depths that are greater than what is practicable (or even survivable) for human divers.[4]

HistoryMain article: History of submarinesEtymologyThe word submarine means 'underwater' or 'under-sea' (as in submarine canyon, submarine pipeline) though as a noun it generally refers to a vessel that can travel underwater.[5] The term is a contraction of submarine boat[6][7] and occurs as such in several languages, e.g. French (sous-marin), and Spanish (submarino), although others retain the original term, such as Dutch (Onderzeeboot), German (Unterseeboot), Swedish (Undervattensbåt), and Russian (подводная лодка: podvodnaya lodka), all of which mean 'submarine boat'. By naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships, regardless of their size.[3] Although referred to informally as boats,[8][9] U.S. submarines employ the designation USS (United States Ship) at the beginning of their names, such as USS Alabama. 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.[10][Note 1] Submarines are generally referred to as boats rather than ships.[Note 2]

Early human-powered submersibles

An early submersible craft, built by Cornelis Drebbel, propelled by oars16th and 17th centuriesAccording to a report in Opusculum Taisnieri published in 1562:[11]

Two Greeks submerged and surfaced in the river Tagus near the City of Toledo several times in the presence of The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, without getting wet and with the flame they carried in their hands still alight.[12]

In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle.[13] A few years later the Scottish mathematician and theologian John Napier wrote in his Secret Inventions (1596) 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.[14]

Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (1553–1613) 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.[15]

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.[14]

18th centuryCutaway replica of Bushnell's Turtle at the Submarine Force Library and Museum, Groton, ConnecticutCutaway replica of Bushnell's Turtle at the Submarine Force Library and Museum, Groton, ConnecticutBy 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.[16]

The first military submersible was Turtle (1775), a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person.[17] It was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion.[18]

19th centuryIllustration by Robert Fulton showing a plunging boat1806 illustration by Robert Fulton showing a plunging boatIn 1800, France built Nautilus, 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 Brandtaucher was built in Germany. It remains the oldest known surviving submarine in the world.[19]

In 1864, late in the American Civil War, the Confederate navy's H. L. Hunley became the first military submarine to sink an enemy vessel, the Union sloop-of-war USS Housatonic, 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.[20]

In 1866, Sub Marine Explorer was the first submarine to successfully dive, cruise underwater, and resurface under the crew's control. The design by German American Julius H. Kroehl (in German, Kröhl) incorporated elements that are still used in modern submarines.[21]

In 1866, Flach 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[22] 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 submarinesSubmarines 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

Peral at Cartagena, 1888A 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 (who built Peral), Dupuy de Lôme (who built Gymnote) and Gustave Zédé (who built Sirène) in France, and James Franklin Waddington (who built Porpoise) in England.[25] Peral's design featured torpedoes and other systems that later became standard in submarines.[26][27]

USS Plunger, launched in 1902