“Come aboard, and let’s get underway as we explore some historic submarines on exhibit in American museums.”
By Chelsey Grassfield
AMERICA’S submarines have come a long way from the CSS H. L. Hunley, hand cranked and without room to stand for the crew of nine, to the USS Nautilus, nuclear-powered with accommodations for 102 sailors.
After visiting these first-of-their-kind submarines, you’ll surely agree with George Washington’s observation in a 1785 letter to Thomas Jefferson: “It is no easy matter to get a person hardy enough to encounter the variety of dangers to which [a submariner] must be exposed.”
So, come aboard, and let’s get underway as we explore some historic submarines on exhibit in American museums.
CSS H. L. Hunley. Charleston, South Carolina
The Civil War was a time of innovation (and ingenuity) in warfare; both the Union and Confederacy were designing and testing submarines. The first of these was the legendary H.L. Hunley. Notoriously dangerous, in 1864, two entire crews of nine men each were lost during training in Charleston, South Carolina. Among the dead was the experimental vessel’s own namesake Horace Lawson Hunley) Hunley’s third crew set their sights on the Union warship USS Housatonic, one of the finest in the blockading squadron off Charleston, but one of wood and therefore easier to pierce with a torpedo-fastening lance, unlike the Union navy’s newer ironclads.
On the night of Feb. 17, 1864, the newest crew was ready to make its attack on the Housatonic. Though a month earlier Union Admiral John Dahlgren issued an order to protect against submersibles, the Housatonic‘s lookout that night thought he saw a porpoise, before realizing the object was man-made and raised the alarm. It was too late; the Hunley had lanced its spar-like torpedo into the Yankee vessel. The explosion took the Housatonic down in five minutes. The Hunley would disappear that night too, going down in history as the first combat submarine to sink a warship.
Shrouded in mystery, the submarine did not resurface for generations. It was raised on Aug. 8, 2000, its crew found at their stations, indicating they had not been attempting escape. As to what killed them, there are a few theories.
The Hunley is now in a tank of fresh water for observation and study. See it on a weekend tour and sit in the museum’s replica.
U-505. Chicago, Illinois
The first known plan by U.S. Navy personnel to capture a German U-boat came about during late-night conversations around an Officer’s Club fireplace in Iceland in 1942. The navy had recently crippled a U-boat and many were surprised how quickly the crew had surrendered before the vessel sank. This got some American officers wondering if it would be possible to capture one intact–rather than sinking it. The idea stuck with Admiral Dan Gallery who prepared his crew over the next several months, should the opportunity arise. On the morning of June 4, 1944, Gallery’s jeep carrier task group engaged the U-505, but held their fire when the damaged submarine surfaced. A boarding party secured the submarine so it could be towed. What had started as a far-fetched idea became the first capture by the U.S. Navy of a foreign enemy ship since 1815.
A few years after the war ended, Admiral Gallery gathered public interest and financial backing while an act of Congress authorized the navy to give the U-505 to Chicago, the city Gallery was born in. The summer of 1954 the submarine was towed down the St. Lawrence, cleaned up, and moved across Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive to be placed beside the Museum of Science and Industry. It instantly became the most popular exhibit. It still is.
In another incredible feat of engineering, the sub was moved inside the museum in April 2004 to prevent further deterioration. If you’re ever in Chicago, you can purchase tickets for a 25-minute interactive walk-through.
USS Nautilus. Groton, Connecticut
In 1938 German physicists discovered nuclear fission, a breakthrough American researchers wanted to apply to submarine propulsion. The U.S. government began working on the plan in 1939, four months before Albert Einstein would famously urge President Franklin D. Roosevelt to develop a nuclear weapons program. The scheme was stalled by the outbreak of the Second World War. While working on the Manhattan Project in 1944, however, a four-person committee assembled to consider potential post-war uses of nuclear energy, including nuclear-propelled submarines.
In 1946, the navy returned to their plan of developing a nuclear submarine. Captain Hyman G. Rickover received orders in May 1946 for a program to develop a shipboard reactor plant. Rickover immersed himself, his team of officers, and civilian engineers in research and planning. On Jan. 9, 1947, a report declared that a nuclear-powered submarine could be developed in 10 years. On Jan. 17, 1955, the USS Nautilus cast off all lines and the commanding officer made the historic “Underway on nuclear power” statement, likely on the 1MC.
The advantages afforded by nuclear power turned the submarine into a fully offensive weapon. By the time the Nautilus retired in 1980, the U.S. Navy had 113 nuclear-powered submarines. Today, you can tour the Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum.
USS Dolphin. San Diego, California
As a research submarine, the USS Dolphin isn’t tied to a particular conflict and it rarely traveled far from its port. But because it was purpose-built for research by both the U.S. Navy and civilian scientists, it’s unique on this list for being a submarine with not just one but many firsts. Launched in 1968, its accomplishments include the first successful submarine-to-aircraft optical communications, submarine launch of a Mobile Submarine Simulator (MOSS) decoy, and successful submarine test of BQS-15 sonar system.
It didn’t take long for the submarine to start setting records. Within a few months of its commissioning, the Dolphin set a depth record for operating submarines that still stands: 3,000 feet. Less than a year later, it launched a torpedo from the deepest depth ever.
The USS Dolphin retired from its 39-year career–the longest of a U.S. Navy submarine—at the San Diego Maritime Museum. Visit the museum for a tour.
USS Tang. New Orleans, Louisiana
The USS Tang is remembered as the most successful American submarine of World War Two, having destroyed 33 vessels in just one year totalling more than 116,000 tons of enemy shipping.
This stealthy and lethal Balao-class submarine made contact with a large convoy during its fifth war patrol on Oct. 25, 1944, sinking numerous Japanese vessels, one after the other. As it fired its last two torpedoes, however, one surfaced, curving its trajectory back to the USS Tang.
The submarine tried to avoid the wayward torpedo but was hit 20 seconds after firing it and sunk. A total of 78 submariners were lost. The nine who survived were picked up by a Japanese destroyer and kept in a POW camp until the war’s end. It was a tragic end to one of the greatest submarine crews of its time. The U.S. Navy has named one of its newest Virginia-class submarines after this great namesake, USS Tang, SSN-805.
You can experience the USS Tang‘s fifth and final mission at the National WWII Museum.
USS Pampanito. San Francisco, California
Another in the Balao-class, the USS Pampanito chalked up a half dozen victories over six war patrols between 1943 and 1945. Pampanito’s most infamous encounter however came during her third voyage, when on Sept. 12, 1944, she torpedoed and sank the nine-ton Japanese freighter SS Rakuyō Maru. Little did the crew of the American sub realize, the target was carrying more than 1,300 British and Australian POWs. A total of 1,159 prisoners were killed in the sinking or were machine gunned by the Japanese while swimming for a nearby island. It wasn’t until three days later that the crew of the Pampanito realized what had happened. While passing back through the waters of the initial attack, lookouts spotted additional survivors in the water. Three more American submarines were dispatched to conduct a rescue. A total of 78 Allied personnel were finally saved.
Since 1982, Pampanito has been open for tours at San Francisco Maritime National Park Association at Pier 45 in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Of course, you may have already seen her – the 1996 Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly comedy Down Periscope was filmed aboard.
Honorable mention: Turtle — Connecticut River Museum, Essex, CT
Built in 1775 by David Bushnell, the Turtle was the first submersible documented for use during battle. Based on Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull’s recommendation, George Washington provided financial support to develop and test this potential weapon against the Royal Navy during the American Revolution. Bushnell was born in Connecticut, and it was there he built his barrel shaped submarine with oak bound by iron hoops. On Sept. 7, 1776, another Connecticut native, Ezra Lee, piloted the craft and set out to sink the HMS Eagle but was unable to pierce the ship’s iron sheathed bottom. After making other attempts to sink various British ships, the Turtle was eventually lost during the Battle of Fort Lee.
Given its origins in Connecticut, it should come as no surprise that you can see a replica of the Turtle at two locations in that state. There is a cutaway replica at the Submarine Force Museum, which you can see while visiting the USS Nautilus. A 40-minute drive from the museum, you can see a functional replica at the Connecticut River Museum, the very river where the submarine was brought for testing.
You should have mentioned the USS Cavalla, a Gato class sub launched in 1943, that can be toured in Galveston, Texas.