From Independence to Civil war - mid 18th to mid 19th century   Two increments are worth mentioning before arriving at the American Civil War.   1850 While the Danish Navy was blockading the German port of Kiel, Prussian army corporal Wilhelm Bauer persuaded a shipbuilder to construct a blockade-breaking submarine based on his design. Bauer called his brainchild Brandtaucher (Incendiary Diver). About the size and shape of a small sperm whale, the boat was made of riveted sheet iron. Two men powered a treadmill to drive a propeller, while a third man steered. The crew controlled buoyancy with ballast tanks and adjusted trim by moving a sliding weight along an iron rod. On its first appearance, Brandtaucher proved sufficiently threatening to cause the blockading force to move farther out to sea. In 1855 Wilhelm Bauer built the 52-foot Diable Marin (Sea Devil) for Russia. The submarine made as many as 134 dives, the most spectacular of which celebrated the coronation of Tsar Alexander II. Of the 16 men the boat took underwater, four formed a brass band, whose underwater rendition of the national anthem could be heard clearly by listeners on the surface.   The second is the Spanish inventor Narciso Monturiol who built his fish like submarine the Ictineo in 1859.   During the American Civil War (1861-1865) we make acquaintance with Horace L. Hunleyand his Pioneer, Davids and CSS Hunley-the first submarine to ever sink a battle ship.   Another wartime vessel is the ironclad ship designed by John Ericsson-a low freeboard type of vessel named Monitor. Back to History Index