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On Monday 17th May, 14 members enjoyed a visit to the Submarine Museum at Gosport. We began with a one hour tour of the WW11 submarine HMS Alliance led by a former crewman. Then members split up into groups visiting the museum of submarine history, the original Holland 1 submarine in its own building, other exhibits around the site and of course refreshments at the café.On a sunny Monday 21st June we sat in our garden and talked about the history of submarines, and how for many years man had dreamed of going beneath the waves in such a boat.
The first known attempt at building a submarine was in 1620 and built by Van Drebbel. It was a wooden frame and hulled boat covered in leather with oars coming out of sealed flaps to propel it, and it had a Snorkel to let air in.
It is recorded that James 1 had a trip up the River Thames in it at a depth of approximately 12 to 15 feet.
The first recorded time a submarine was used in conflict was in 1775 at Connecticut, USA by the Americans against the British in the war of Independence. It was called the “Turtle” and again was made of wood and sealed. It had one crewman and enough air for 30 minutes and a speed of 3 mph and was operated by a hand cranked propeller (the first recorded use of a screw propeller for ships). An attack failed against HMS Eagle through a combination of strong currents and the copper sheath on the ship’s hull (which prevented a hole being drilled in it to place explosives inside), but this scared the British.
Before Holland 1,the basis of all modern submarines, could be built, a series of events took place including some important inventions:
In 1800 Alexandro Volta- an Italian Physicist, invented the first battery to emit a continuous current.
In 1850 Michael Faraday invented the first working Electric Dynamo.
In 1860 Jules Verne wrote his famous book “20,000 Leagues under the Sea“.
In the mid/late 1800’s some countries, including Britain, built steam powered submarines, with a funnel for surface running.
In 1885 Daimler invented the first successful 4 stroke petrol/gasoline engine.
Then in 1901 Holland 1 was launched and became the first Royal Navy submarine.
Since then the Royal Navy have had built and used many different/improved designs of diesel electric powered boats, however in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s a decision was taken that the UK would operate only nuclear submarines. The Swiftsure and Trafalgar attack class submarines were built and operated, and they are now being gradually taken out of service as the new nuclear attack Astute class submarines come into service (it is hoped that 7 will be built).
Specifications are:
Tonnage: 7800(dived) 6500 (surface).
Dimensions: 97m long x 11.3 m wide x 10 m high.
Max speed: 29 plus knots dived.( a knot is 1.151 mph).
Endurance: 90 days.
Crew: 84(accommodation of 98)
Home Port: Faslane, Scotland.
It has 100 km of cabling and 10 km of pipe work.
The next meeting will be on Monday 19th July and the topic will be
the formation of “modern“ Italy .
Michael Page.
