December 16, 1897: 1st Submarine with an Internal Combustion Engine Demonstrated

National Submarine Day, which occurs each year on 11 April, honors the anniversary of the day in 1900 when the U.S. Navy acquired the Holland VI submarine, which has been generally recognized as the world’s first modern submarine.

Similar, though slightly larger variants of the original Holland VI design also were acquired by the UK (1901 – 1904) and Japan (1904).

Designed in 1896 by Irish-American inventor John Phillip Holland and his Holland Torpedo Boat Company, the Holland VI was built at the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Arthur Leopold Busch was the chief constructor / naval architect.  The Holland VI was launched on 16 May 1897. This diminutive submarine (by today’s standards) had an overall length of 53 ft 10 in (16.41 m), displacements of 65 tons surfaced / 75 tons submerged, and was operated by a crew of six.

The Holland VI brought together a host of impressive features for the first time in one vessel, including:

• Efficient hydrodynamic hull shape [teardrop-shape with bulbous bow and tapered stern] with good seakeeping ability on the open ocean.
• Separate main and auxiliary ballast systems enable rapid diving and surfacing with minimial changes to the longitudinal center of gravity while underway.
  • Accomplished by operating with full or nearly full ballast tanks when submerged.
  • Allowed precise control of trim angle while submerged.
• Able to dive to and accurately maintain a significant depth [up of 75 feet (23 m)].
  • Diving planes provide the means to precisely control depth [stern planes only, located behind the propeller].
• Dual propulsion systems driving a single propeller at the stern.
  • Internal combustion engine provides reliable power on the surface, enabling long transits while charging the batteries [up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) at 6 knots]
  • Lead-acid storage batteries provide power to run submerged for a considerable distance [about 30 nautical miles (56 km) at 5.5 knots].
• Conning tower for directing ship and weapons activities on the surface or semi-submerged.
  • No periscope. View ports around the top of the conning tower provided the commander with intermittent views while “porpoising” semi-submerged near the surface.
• Offensive weapons systems.
  • One reloadable torpedo tube at the bow, with three self-propelled torpedoes carried internally.
  • One pneumatic dynamite gun at the bow that, on the surface, fired large projectiles, sometimes called “aerial torpedoes.” [This was subsequently removed].