Who is this person?
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03-29-2014, 11:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-30-2014 08:39 AM by Eva Elisabeth.)
Post: #467
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RE: Who is this person?
Good guess, Roger, but Gene is correct - brilliant, Gene!!
Please allow this aside: AFAIK, the first submarine entirely made of riveted sheet iron was the "Brandtaucher" (Incendiary Diver), nicknamed "Eiserner Seehund" (Iron Seal), which was constructed by Wilhelm Bauer in Kiel (where I live) in 1850 to break the blockade of the Danish Navy. It weighed about 70,000 pounds and was powered by two sailors turning a big tread wheel with their hands and feet. Under an enemy's ship the captain would reach out through a gutta percha glove fixed to an opening of the hull, grab an electrically triggered mine mine located on the hull, and fix it on the target vessel. Then the mine was to be ignited from a safe distance. At a public show in the Kiel harbor on Feb.1,1851, the sliding weight slid too far forward and the Brandtaucher plunged to the bottom, getting stuck in the mud at 60 feet. Water pressure was too great to allow Bauer and his two sailors to open the hatch. For six hours they had to wait until enough water had seeped in through the damaged hull so that incoming water had raised the internal pressure to match that outside. The increased air pressure inside the sub finally allowed the men to open the hatch, and they were swept aloft unharmed in a bubble of escaping air. This was also the first submarine escape to be witnessed and reported. The Brandtaucher was raised in 1887 and is still on display. I think (not sure) the Hunley was quite a similar construction?! BTW, did the Hunley sink more than one ship? |
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