Principles of naval engineering - Historic Naval Ships Association

PRINCIPLES OF NAVAL ENGINEERINGone thing is already clear: the nuclear-poweredship is virtually free of the limitations on steamingradius that apply to ships using other formsof fuel. Because of this one fact alone, the futureof nuclear propulsive power seems assured.THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUBMARINESAlthough ancient history records numerousattempts of varying degrees of success to buildunderwater craft and devices, the first successfulsubmersible craft— and certainly the first tobe used as an offensive weapon in naval warfare—wasthe Turtle , a one-man submersibleinvented by David Bushnell during the AmericanRevolutionary War. The Turtle , which was propelledby a hand-operated screw propeller, attemptedto sink a British man-of-war in NewYork Harbor. The plan was to attach a chargeof gunpowder to the ship's bottom with screwsand to explode it with a time fuse. After repeatedfailures to force the screws through thecopper sheathing of the hull of the British ship,the submarine gave up, released the charge, andwithdrew. The powder exploded without anyresult except to cause the British man-of-warto shift to a berth farther out to sea.closed automatically when the water reacheda certain level.In 1798, Robert Fulton built a small submersiblewhich he called the Nautilus. Thisvessel, which is shown in figure 1-8, had anoverall length of 20 feet and a beam of 5 feet.The craft was designed to carry three peopleand to stay submerged for about an hour. Thefirst Nautilus carried sails for surface propulsionand a hand-driven screw propeller forsubmerged propulsion. The periscope had notyet been invented, but Fulton's craft had a modifiedform of conning tower which had a portholefor underwater observation. In 1801, Fulton triedto interest France, Britain, and America in hisidea, but no nation was willing to sponsor thedevelopment of the craft, even though this wasthe best submarine that had yet been designed.Interest in the development of the submarinewas great during the period of the Civil War,but progress was limited by the lack of a suitablemeans of propulsion. Steam propulsion wasattempted, but it had many drawbacks, and handpropulsion was obviously of limited value. Thefirst successful steam-driven submarine wasbuilt in 1880 in England. The submarine had acoal-fired boUer and a retractable smokestack.TOPPEOO SCREW-VENTILATO«S-VERTICALPROPELLERDEPTH-GAUGEOUODER PUMPVBALLAST TANK-'BALLAST-DETACMABLE BALLAST-^AND ANCHOR/./ TLOOOING',- VALVEBALLAST TANKFigure110.1041-7.— The Turtle—the first submersibleused in naval warfare.The Turtle , shown in figure 1-7, looked somewhatlike a lemon standing on end. The vesselhad a water ballast system with hand-operatedpumps, as well as the hand-operated propeller.It also had a crude arrangement for drawing infresh air from the surface. The vent pipes even