HUNLEY SINKS USS HOUSATONIC

Hunley sinks USS Housatonic

On the night of February 17th, 1864, off Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley moved slowly toward the Union sloop of war USS Housatonic. The Hunley was a dangerous experiment: a hand-cranked, cigar-shaped boat with a spar torpedo mounted on its bow. Its crew had already died in earlier test accidents, but on this sortie the submarine reached its target, detonated its explosive charge, and sent Housatonic to the bottom in minutes. It was the first time in history that a submarine had successfully sunk an enemy warship in combat, and Union sailors suddenly had to contend with a new, unseen threat beneath the waves. The Hunley never returned from the mission, a reminder of how fragile early undersea technology could be. Even so, the attack foreshadowed the rise of submarine warfare in the twentieth century, when undersea fleets would reshape naval strategy on a global scale.