Submarines are today associated with the most modern scientific and tourist activities. But the idea is much older than we think. Indeed, one of the oldest submarines was developed in the 18th century, during the American War of Independence.
But no one seems to have seen the underwater warfare waged by the rebel settlers coming.
In 1775, while studying at what is now Yale University, a farmer’s son named David Bushnell observed the early days of the revolt and imagined what war would be like if it could be fought. under water. Bushnell was quick-witted and had tinkered with various inventions to help the settlers’ cause.
Bushnell believed that naval warfare would be the key to Independence. After all, the British Crown was bringing in its legions of redcoats by ship and was already using its naval prowess to blockade the unruly colonists and force their surrender. But Bushnell wanted to take down the British ships another way: underwater. To do this, he began the construction of an experimental device capable of diving underwater and staying there. This device would therefore allow its operator to bomb other boats using a programmed explosive.
It is unclear how original Bushnell’s idea was, or whether it was derived from earlier European innovations in naval warfare. Bushnell was likely inspired by the stories of American inventors like Cornelis Drebbel, who created the first working submarine in 1620. What is certain is that Bushnell eventually came into contact with other revolutionary sympathizers, including the watchmaker Isaac Doolittle, who made some of the precision instruments needed for his new machine. And what a machine! Bushnell envisioned a barrel-shaped vessel that could accommodate an operator, enclosing him in two shell-like halves, giving the device its name Turtle. Inside the oak-hulled orb, the operator used ballast and a pump to flood the underside of the ships to submerge them.
The operator then had approximately thirty minutes of oxygen, time allowed to propel the machine towards its target using a rudder and a pair of propellers operated by hand and foot, using the light from the portholes to navigate. Once reaching an enemy ship, the operator could use a drill-like attachment on the hull of the Turtle to punch a hole in the target, fill it with a programmed weapon, and speed away undetected before the ship explodes.
