H. L. Hunley (submarine)

1864 painting of H. L. Hunley by Conrad Wise Chapman
History
Confederate States
Name	H. L. Hunley
Namesake	Horace Lawson Hunley
Builder	James McClintock
Laid down	Early 1863
Launched	July 1863
Acquired	August 1863
In service	17 February 1864
Out of service	17 February 1864
Status	Raised in 2000 and preserved in H. L. Hunley Museum
General characteristics
Displacement	7.5 short tons (6.8 t)
Length	39.5 ft (12.0 m) (unconfirmed)
Beam	3.83 ft (1.17 m)
Propulsion	Hand-cranked ducted propeller
Speed	4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) (surface)
Complement	2 officer, 6 enlisted
Armament	1 spar torpedo
H. L. HUNLEY (submarine)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Nearest city	North Charleston, South Carolina
Coordinates	32°44′0″N 79°46′0″W / 32.73333°N 79.76667°W / 32.73333; -79.76667
Built	1864
Architect	Park & Lyons; Hunley, McClintock & Watson
Website	www.hunley.org
NRHP reference No.	78003412[1]
Added to NRHP	December 29, 1978

H. L. Hunley, also known as the Hunley, CSS H. L. Hunley, or CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to base. Twenty-one crewmen died in the three sinkings of Hunley during her short career. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, South Carolina.

Hunley, nearly 40 ft (12 m) long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. She was then shipped by rail on 12 August 1863 to Charleston. Hunley (then referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat", or the "porpoise") sank on 29 August 1863 during a test run, killing five members of her crew. She sank again on 15 October 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Lawson Hunley himself, who was aboard at the time, even though he was not a member of the Confederate military. Both times Hunley was raised and returned to service.

On 17 February 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1,240-ton United States Navy^[2] screw sloop-of-war Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade-duty in Charleston's outer harbor. Hunley did not survive the attack and sank, taking all eight members of her third crew with her, and was lost.

Finally located in 1995, Hunley was raised in 2000 and is on display in North Charleston, South Carolina, at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River. Examination in 2012 of recovered Hunley artifacts suggested that the submarine was as close as 20 ft (6.1 m) to her target, Housatonic, when her deployed torpedo exploded, which caused the submarine's sinking.^[3]