Down periscope! How submarines went from an impossible dream to a military reality

The idea of a vehicle capable of underwater transport is not new. Back in Antiquity, thinkers like Herodotus wondered about vessels capable of submerging. Nonetheless, it took a long underwater journey to get where we are today.

Despite being an idea that has fascinated humanity for centuries, it wasn’t until 1578 when British mathematician William Bourne theorized a completely enclosed boat covered in waterproof leather that could submerge by changing its volume.

The first actual submersible is credited for having been built by the Dutch inventor Cornelius van Drebel in 1620. The ‘diving boat’ moved by oars through leather flaps. The air was provided by two tubes with floats.

Following Bourne’s principle, Van Drebel maneuvered his craft under 12 to 15 feet (four or five meters) in The River Thames between 1620 and 1624. Legend has it that even Charles I took a dive in the new contraption.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, England had at least 14 types of submarines patented by 1727. During the American Revolution, a one-man walnut-shaped propelled submersible was designed and built by David Bushnell to covertly plant bombs in British vessels but failed in its first and only mission.

Another underwater pioneer was US inventor Robert Fulton, who under the patronage of Napoleon Bonaparte devised an iron and copper submarine with a conning tower and a glass porthole. Ultimately, it failed to attract the attention of French and British investors, and Fulton went on to create the first steamship.

During the American Civil War, both sides experimented with submarine warfare. The South, trying to overcome the Union Navy’s blockade, developed many submersibles. The most notable of these was the CSS Hunley.

Armed with a torpedo, the Hunley managed to sink the Union’s sloop-of-war Housatonic, becoming the first successful use of a submarine in warfare.

However, the Hunley sank shortly after the explosion, killing its entire crew. The wreckage of the Confederate submarine was found in the 1970s and recovered in the 2000s.

Meanwhile, Europe also managed to make technological advancements. Bavarian officer Wilhelm Bauer developed in 1855 ‘Le Diable-Marin’ for the Russian imperial government. The 52-foot iron submarine managed over 130 successful dives before being lost at sea.

The final decades of the 19th century saw an underwater arms race, with most major powers trying to develop their own submersibles.

At the time, a major limitation was exactly how these underwater vessels could move. You couldn’t use a conventional engine, unless you wanted your crew to either drown or suffocate, and crank-operated propellers were deemed impractical.

The French Navy developed the ‘Narval’, launched in 1899. It used a steam engine on the surface and electric motors underwater. It introduced many innovations that are the forerunners of standard submarine technology.

Around the same time, US inventor Simon Lake built his first submarine. The ‘Argonaut 1’, launched in 1894, managed to sail from Norfolk, Virginia, to New York City, completing the first underwater trip in open sea.

Imperial Germany, on the other hand, finished its first submarine, the U-1, in 1905. The 139-foot-long vessel had a heavy oil engine on the surface, electric motors underwater and was armed with a torpedo. Everything was set for a major war to break out at the dawn of the 20th century.

During World War 1, most major powers had submarines as part of their military fleet, but they were generally deemed of little strategic value. One exception was the U-boats developed by Imperial Germany.

The sinking of the ocean liner ‘Lusitania’ off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat was a turning point for the conflict, ultimately leading to the United States join the First World War.

Submarine development didn’t stop after the end of the war. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union joined the undersea game in the middle of Joseph Stalin’s massive industrialization programs.

Submarines played a pivotal role during World War 2, particularly for the United States in the Pacific Theater and Nazi Germany in the Baltic and the Mediterranean. After the Axis defeat in 1945, Allied nations adopted many of their developments.

While one conflict ended, another started out. As the United States and the Soviet Union set the table for the Cold War, major powers started to adopt nuclear submarines, bringing a new era of underwater warfare that remains to this day.

Currently, according to Statista, the United States has 68 nuclear-powered submarines, while Russia has 36, the United Kingdom and Japan have 11, France and China have 10 and India has one.