7 Sep 1776: first submarine attack

On this day in 1776, David Bushnell used his submarine Turtle to attach a time bomb to the hull of a British ship in New York Harbor. The bomb did not detonate – in fact, there is no British record of the occasion – but if it did happen, it marked the first use of a submarine in wartime.

The first successful submarine was built in 1620 by Dutchman Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel. It had a wooden frame covered in leather; the largest prototype could fit 16 men. Drebbel was in the service of the English Navy at the time, and even took King James I on a short trip, making the monarch the first head-of-state to travel underwater.

The U.S. Navy has a fun list of other important submarines, perhaps none more notable than the H.L. Hunley, the Confederate vessel that sank the U.S.S. Housatonic in 1864. It sank before returning to port, taking its eight-man crew with it. It was finally located in 1995 and raised in 2000, and is now on display.

Image: Lt. Francis Barber drawing, 1875. Somewhat inaccurate. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy.