USS Alligator (1862)
Contemporary artist's rendering of Alligator
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Alligator |
Namesake | Alligator mississippiensis |
Ordered | 1 November 1861 |
Builder | Neafie & Levy |
Launched | 1 May 1862 |
In service | 13 June 1862 |
Fate | Foundered 2 April 1863 |
General characteristics | |
Length | 47 ft (14 m) |
Beam | 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) (excluding oars); height of hull 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 1862: 2 knots (3.7 km/h); 1863: 4 knots (7.4 km/h) |
Test depth | 6.8 ft (2.1 m) |
Complement | 12 - One officer, one helmsman, one or two divers, and 8 oarsmen |
Armament | 2 × limpet mines |
USS Alligator, the fourth
Construction
In the autumn of 1861, the Union Navy asked the firm of Neafie & Levy to construct a small submersible ship designed by the French engineer Brutus de Villeroi, who also acted as a supervisor during the first phase of the construction (de Villeroi had designed and built submarines in France and one after immigrating to the United States).
The boat was about 47 feet (14 m) long, with a beam of 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) and height of 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m).[1] "It was made of iron, with the upper part pierced for small circular plates of glass, for light, and in it were several water tight compartments". She was designed to carry 18 men. For propulsion, she was equipped with 16 hand-powered paddles protruding from the sides. On 3 July 1862, the Washington Navy Yard had the paddles replaced by a hand-cranked propeller, which improved its speed to about four knots.[2] Air was supplied from the surface by two tubes with floats, connected to an air pump located inside the submarine; it was the first operational submarine to have an air purifying system.[3][1] The boat had a forward airlock, and was the first operational submarine with the capability for a diver to leave and return while both remained submerged.[3][1] Divers could affix mines to a target, then return and detonate them by connecting the mine's insulated copper wire to a battery inside the vessel.[4]
The Union Navy wanted such a vessel to counter the threat posed to its wooden-hulled blockaders by the former screw frigate
shipbuilder specified that the submarine was to be finished in not more than 40 days; its keel was laid down almost immediately following the signing on 1 November 1861 of a contract for her construction. Nevertheless, the work proceeded so slowly that more than 180 days had elapsed when the novel craft finally was launched on 1 May 1862.Operational history
Soon after her launching, she was towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to be fitted out and manned. Two weeks later, she was placed under command of a civilian, Mr. Samuel Eakins. On 13 June, the Navy formally accepted the boat.
Next, the steam tug Fred Kopp was engaged to tow the submarine to
Several tasks were considered for the vessel: destroying a bridge across Swift Creek, a tributary of the
The ship headed downriver on the 29th and then was ordered to proceed to the
On 3 July 1862, the Navy Yard replaced Alligator's oars with a hand-cranked screw propeller, thereby increasing her speed to about 4 knots (7.4 km/h). President Lincoln observed the submarine in operation on 18 March 1863.
About this time, Rear Admiral
The next day, both encountered bad weather which, on 2 April, forced Sumpter to cut Alligator adrift off Cape Hatteras.[5] She either immediately sank or drifted for a while before sinking, ending the career of the United States Navy's first submarine. An attempt to find it in 2005 was not successful.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Alligator: The Forgotten Torchbearer of the U.S. Submarine Force", Undersea Warfare Magazine, vol. 8, no. 3, United States Navy, Spring 2006, archived from the original on 11 October 2015, retrieved 13 March 2016
- ^ "Alligator (Submarine) iv". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command, United States Navy Department. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
- ^ a b "National Marine Sanctuaries: Hunt for the Alligator". National Marine Sanctuaries. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "The Story of the Alligator". Navy & Marine Living History Association, Inc. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ Submarine Photo Index
- ^ The Hunt for the Alligator
- Veit, Chuck, "The Innovative, Mysterious Alligator" - Naval History magazine (August 2010), pp. 26–29
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- navsource.org: USS Alligator
- NPR story on the hunt for the USS Alligator
- NOAA search for the Alligator
- Navy & Marine LHA history site on Alligator
- Full Story of the Appomattox River Raid
- UNDERSEA WARFARE Magazine article on Alligator
- Comprehensive site on world submarine history Archived 2 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine