Turtle (submarine)

For other uses, see Turtle (disambiguation).

The Turtle was the world's first submarine used in battle. It was invented in Old Saybrook, Connecticut in 1775 by American Patriot David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor. Governor Jonathan Trumbull recommended the invention to George Washington; although the commander in chief had doubts he provided funds and support for the development and testing of the machine.

Several attempts were made to use the Turtle to affix explosives to the undersides of British warships in New York Harbor. All failed, and her transport ship was eventually sunk by the British with her aboard; Bushnell claimed to eventually recover the machine. Modern replicas of the Turtle have been constructed; the Connecticut River Museum and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum both have them.

Overview

File:Turtle submarine 1776.jpg

A diagram of the Turtle

The submarine (designed as a naval weapon) was meant to drill into a ship's hull and plant a keg containing 130 pounds (59 kg) of gunpowder, which would be detonated by a time fuse. Much testing was done by the inventor's brother, Ezra Bushnell, in the waters of the Connecticut River.

Named for its shape, Turtle resembled a large clam as much as a turtle; it was about 10 feet (3.0 m) long (according to the original specifications), 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and about 3 feet (0.9 m) wide, and consisted of two wooden shells covered with tar and reinforced with steel bands. It submerged by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump, similarly to the use of spear sack tanks in modern submarines. It was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers, the first recorded use of the screw propeller for ships. It also had 200 pounds (91 kg) of lead aboard, which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. It was manned and operated by one person. It contained enough air for about thirty minutes and had a speed in calm water of about three miles per hour (5 kph).

Six small pieces of thick glass in the top were the only source of natural light. After Bushnell pondered the problem of lighting the inside of the ship and after learning that using a candle would hasten the use of the limited oxygen supply of the air inside, he solicited the help of Benjamin Franklin who cleverly hit upon the idea of using bioluminescent foxfire to provide illumination for the compass and depth meter. The light given by the material was said to be sufficient at night, though likely dimmer than expected, because the ship was cooled by the surrounding sea water and the metabolic rate of poikilothermic, heterotrophic organisms is temperature-dependent.

Governors Island attack

File:Turtle submarine.jpg

A diagram of the Turtle

On the night of September 7, 1776, after the British had gained control of Long Island in the Battle of Long Island, General Washington authorized an expedition by the Turtle in the waters of New York Harbor. Under the guidance of army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee, Turtle attempted an attack on Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Governors Island, which is due south of Manhattan. A common misconception was that Lee failed because he could not manage to bore through the copper-sheeted hull. In practice, it has been shown that the thin copper would not have presented any problem to the drill. A more likely scenario is Lee's unfamiliarity with the vessel made him unable to keep the Turtle stable enough to work the drill against the Eagle's Hull. When he attempted another spot in the hull, he was unable to stay beneath the ship, and eventually abandoned the attempt. Governors Island is off the southern vertex of Manhattan, the place where the Hudson River and the East River merge. The currents at this point would be strong and complex. The Turtle would only be able to attack ships moored here during the short period of time when the incoming tide balanced the river currents. It is possible that during the attack the tide turned and Lee was unable to compensate. He released the keg of gunpowder when British soldiers or sailors in row boats tried to pursue him. The British, suspecting a trick, gave up the pursuit.

Aftermath

File:Bushnell mines.jpg

Bushnell mines destroying a British ship

In 1777, Lee used floating mines in an attempt to destroy the British frigate HMS Cerberus, anchored in Niantic Bay. The explosion was said to have killed 3 sailors and destroyed a boat of a prize schooner astern of the Cerberus but failed to damage the ship. In 1778 Bushnell attempted to float mines down the Delaware River and destroy British Ships off Philadelphia which only resulted in sinking a small British Barge and killing 4 men during the Battle of the Kegs.A 1778 report claims two young boys attempting to take up a floating keg were killed.

The submarine was sunk by the British as it sat on its tender vessel near Fort Lee, New Jersey. Years later, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Bushnell reported salvaging the Turtle. He subsequently had it dismantled.

Veracity of reports

British documents contain no records of any attacks by a submarine or any reports of explosions on the night of the supposed attack on HMS Eagle (although records of the floating mine attacks do exist). The only British records are of an intercepted letter of a supposed description of the boat which was not taken seriously.

The problems of achieving neutral buoyancy would have rendered the vertical propeller useless. The route the Turtle would have had to take to attack HMS Eagle was slightly across the tidal stream which would, in all probability, have resulted in Ezra Lee becoming exhausted. In the face of these and other problems it has been suggested that the entire story was fabricated originally as disinformation and later a morale boosting propaganda, and that if Ezra Lee did carry out an attack it was in a covered rowing boat rather than the Turtle.

Replicas

File:Turtle model at the Royal navy submarine museum.jpg

A replica of the Turtle on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, UK

In 1976, a recreation was designed by Joseph Leary and constructed by Fred Frese as a project marking the United States Bicentennial. It was christened by Connecticut's governor, Ella Grasso, and later tested in the Connecticut River. This replica is owned by the Connecticut River Museum.

On August 3, 2007 three men were stopped by police while escorting and piloting a replica of the Turtle within 200 feet (61 m) of the Queen Mary 2, then docked at the cruise ship terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The replica was created by New York artist Philip "Duke" Riley and two residents of Rhode Island, one of whom claimed to be a descendant of David Bushnell. The Coast Guard issued Riley a citation for having an unsafe vessel, and for violating the security zone around the Queen Mary 2.

References

• Schecter, Barnet, The Battle of New York, 2002, ISBN 0802713742

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[[Commons: Category:Bushnell Turtle

| Bushnell Turtle

]]

• Old Saybrook High School's recreation project
• The Handshouse Studio 2003 replica of Turtle