By Arnold Gordon
At the February 28 meeting of the RMA Bob Phillips introduced Phil Vitiello, a lifelong New Haven resident, who described a fascinating, relatively unknown story about the first submarine to sink an enemy ship by torpedo in combat, and during the Civil War no less: “The Story of the H.L Hunley.” Phil is a charter member of the Friends of the Hunley organization, which focuses on this first combat submarine. He previously spoke to the RMA about the Titanic about two years ago. He is Director of Marketing for the food broker, Northeast Food Marketing, but also actively researches and writes about important historical events. He is a Civil War historian and re-enactor and visits war sites for his research.
He pointed out that the Civil War formed the grounds for modern warfare through the introduction of ironclad boats, machine guns, electrically exploded bombs and “aircraft” in the form of a passenger balloon. While most of us have heard about the Monitor and Merrimack boats used during that war, very little has been known about the H. L. Hunley, a submarine that sank mysteriously in Charleston Harbor, after a tortuous life that began in Mobile, Alabama.
Phil explained the strategic situation that drove the development of the Hunley. Union General Winfield Scott had imposed a successful blockade of Southern ports, which almost completely stopped the flow of arms and supplies to the South. Desperate to break the naval blockade, the Confederacy was ready to try a submarine.
In New Orleans in 1862, engineers James McClintock and Baxter Watson began construction of submarines financed by Horace Lawson Hunley. The first two subs sank, but their experience led to the design of the H.L. Hunley: 42 feet long, 5 feet high and 4.5 feet wide with a crew of eight. It had advanced features for its time, such as ballast tanks. It weighed 14,991 pounds and had a speed of 1-2 knots, 3-4 in sprints, propelled by a hand-cranked propeller (there was no engine). They hoped that the submarine would be able to dive under sea close to enemy ships while towing a torpedo that would detonate on contact. After successful harbor tests in Mobile, the sub and crew were sent 627 miles by rail to Charleston, SC in 1863.
On arrival, the over-eager new military crew sank the Hunley while attempting a test dive. Three men escaped but five were trapped inside and died. The sub was raised and a new crew volunteered, commanded and trained by Horace Hunley himself. But due to a pilot error, the Hunley failed to surface after a practice dive, killing the second crew including Hunley. At that point the Confederate military ordered all work stopped on what they deemed a failed weapon.
But Lt. George Dixon passionately pleaded for one last chance. Dixon trained his hand-picked men exhaustively for a complicated night attack. Given the sub’s short range, which was only six or seven miles, they had to carefully calculate distance and tide conditions.
Finally, on a calm night on February 18, 1864, the Hunley left Breach Inlet with an eight-man crew for her fateful mission in Charleston Harbor. They travelled four miles to reach their target, the 207-foot-long Union ship USS Housatonic. They carried a 135-pound Singer torpedo at the end of the 16-foot spar with which they successfully struck the ship. The blast sent the Housatonic to the bottom in five minutes, but killed only five of 155 crewmen. Although some witnesses reported seeing a signal light indicating that the Hunley had survived, the Hunley never returned to base. It remained lost for over 130 years, and the mystery of her disappearance has never been solved.
There were many unsuccessful searches for the Hunley over the decades. Finally, author Clive Cussler funded an expedition that located the sub on May 3, 1995, buried in silt 26 feet beneath the sea more than 1,300 yards past the wreck of the Housatonic. She was raised intact on August 8, 2000, with the spar still connected, and found to be nearly perfectly preserved after 136 years due to the protective silt cocoon. The skeletons of the crew were found inside. Archaeologists spent 15 years excavating her contents, finding many artifacts such as binoculars, a lamp, a pocket watch, and tools. On April 16, 2004, the remains of the Hunley’s last crew were given full military burials at the Church of Holy Communion with 60,000 spectators and 12,000 historians in attendance, thus closing her incredible story that changed naval warfare forever.
The talk was followed by a question & answer session.
The talk can be viewed by going to the RMA website at https://greenwichrma.org, and clicking on “Speakers.”
The RMA’s upcoming presentation, “Major Bridges in North America – Design and Construction Challenges,” by Mike Abrahams, is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. This presentation will describe the design and construction of a number of major bridges in the United States including the Fremont Bridge in Portland, Oregon, at the time the largest bridge lift in the world, the emergency replacement of the west half of the Hood Canal Bridge, Washington, one of the world’s longest floating bridges over a saltwater basin, and replacement of the Coleman Bridge, Yorktown, Virginia, one of the world’s longest double-leaf highway swing spans, which was replaced in nine days.
Michael Abrahams is the former Chief Structural Engineer for WSP, USA Inc., formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff, an American multinational engineering and design firm. The firm operates in the fields of strategic consulting, planning, engineering, construction management, energy, infrastructure, and community planning. It is a subsidiary of WSP Global, one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services firms with a staff of over 67,000. Mike has served as project manager or principal-in-charge for a number of major bridge and tunnel design and rehabilitation programs. In addition, his responsibilities have included providing failure investigation, expert testimony, participating in peer and quality control reviews, preparing contract drawings and specifications, designing and checking design calculations, and providing structural analysis. Prior to joining Parsons Brinckerhoff Mike served with the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines as a civil engineer working with a Philippines government agency. He directed the survey, design, and construction of self-help projects such as schools, water supply, and irrigation systems.
A graduate of Bowdoin College and Columbia Engineering School, Mike and his wife Elena, a retired teacher in the Greenwich school system, live in Old Greenwich.
To stream the presentation by Mike Abrahams at 11 AM on Wednesday, March 13, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. Any member of the public who would like to receive a weekly email announcement of future speakers should send a request to members@greenwichrma.org. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact members@greenwichrma.org.
