1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works in iHeart Radio and I love all 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: things tech. And today we're going to continue our journey 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: to the button of the Ocean, or at least our 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: our journey to understanding submarines and how they work. So 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: in our previous episode, I talked about the early attempts 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: at building vehicles that can travel beneath the waves, and 10 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: we learned about brave or perhaps fool hardy inventors who 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: took great risks and sometimes perished in the process to 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: come up with a working submarine. And nearly all the 13 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: applications for the innovation were centered around warfare. There are 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: a couple of people who are thinking about it for 15 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: you know, like a pleasure cruise under the waters. But 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: for the most part, people are thinking, how can I 17 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: use this to sneak up on people I don't like 18 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: and then blow them up real good? Now. I left 19 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: off in the middle of the nineteenth century with a 20 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: discussion on the submarines that were used during the Civil 21 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: War as well as one that was built around that 22 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,839 Speaker 1: same time over in France. So let's pick up from there. 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: And as I mentioned in that episode, I'll not be 24 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: covering every single submarine or every single advance in submarines 25 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: bit by bit, because that would take forever. We'd have 26 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,559 Speaker 1: to do fifty episodes. So we're going to be jumping 27 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: around a little bit in this one. One innovation that 28 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: isn't about submarines specifically would still contribute to their evolution, 29 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: and that was the self propelled torpedo. In eighteen sixty eight, 30 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: a man named Robert Whitehead came up with a design 31 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: for an explosive device that could travel through the water 32 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: using compressed air as the power source. Now keep in 33 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: mind that up until all that point, submarines relied on 34 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: either approaching a ship close enough so that you could 35 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: physically attach an explosive mind to that ship, or having 36 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: a spar mounted to the front of the submarine and 37 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: then ramming a ship and the spar is tipped with 38 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: an explosive, which clearly would put both the ship and 39 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: the submarine at risk. That's how, in fact, the Hunley 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: sank after it hit its target, the Hausatanic. But in 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: that process, everyone on board the Huntley died. That's not 42 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: ideal either. There was also the attempt to tow an 43 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: explosive behind the submarine in an effort to set it 44 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: on a course that would collide with the target ship. 45 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: But that was also dangerous because if it collided with 46 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: a submarine blow up prematurely. So the development of a 47 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: projectile that could travel through the water would mean it 48 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: would be possible to design a submarine that could be 49 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: an effective military vehicle. You would have a torpedo tube 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: that you could load a torpedo into. You would flood 51 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: the tube and then you would activate the torpedo. If 52 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: such a vessel could carry torpedoes like the ones that 53 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: white Head was designing, then they could launch them at 54 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: a target at a distance without putting itself in direct danger. 55 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: Whitehead's torpedo design called for a pair of cylinders containing 56 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: compressed air at ninety atmospheres, and these were within the 57 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: body of the torpedo itself, took up most of the 58 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: space inside the torpedo. In fact, the compressed air would, 59 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: when released, force its way outward, turning mechanical components through 60 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,559 Speaker 1: a system of gears that transferred that motion to propellers 61 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: at the base or the rear of the torpedo. There 62 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: was also a rudder in the back that allowed for 63 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: stability and some aiming capabilities. There's no real way to 64 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: steer a torpedo once it left, not yet anyway. Whitehead's 65 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: prototype could travel at a speed of six and a 66 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: half knots that's about seven and a half miles per 67 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: hour or twelve kilometers per hour, and it had a 68 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: range of around two hundred yards or about a hundred 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: eighty three ms. A ship, you know, the the over 70 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: the waves kind of ship, was meant to launch it 71 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: from a tube that was at or below the waterline, 72 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: using either a gunpowder charge or compressed air. Whitehead and 73 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: others would improve on that basic design, adding components like 74 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: gyroscopes to help with steering and stability, but all that 75 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: would happen over the course of the next few decades. Now, 76 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: the military submarines I covered in the last episode were 77 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: at best only partially successful, but there was a lot 78 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: of work that needed to be done to make them 79 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: a more reliable resource. Much of that work would be 80 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: done by an inventor named John Philip Holland, who many 81 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: call the Father of the modern submarine. Holland was born 82 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: not in Holland but in Ireland, which I think he 83 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: did as a joke to confuse me. He went to 84 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: school in Limerick, so I guess this is happening. Get 85 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: ready for some poetry. M M. John Philip was quite 86 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: the boy wonder who flinched, not at high waves or 87 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: at thunder. I don't care a pip. I built a 88 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,799 Speaker 1: new ship. I don't float on the sea. I go under. 89 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: There's your Limerick. He studied engineering and worked on many hypotheses, 90 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: including a paper about the possibilities of mechanical flight, and 91 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: this would be years before the Right Brothers found success 92 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: at Kitty Hawk. He also read about the earlier submarine 93 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: designs in America during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and 94 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 1: Holland was interested in these in large part because Ireland 95 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: was under British control and conditions in Ireland were pretty 96 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: harsh and a lot of blame was being thrown towards 97 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: the British. Not only was there famine and disease in Ireland, 98 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: but also some ruthless business practices were turning Irish families 99 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: out on the streets. There was even a practice called 100 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: leveling in which a landlord would evict a family, then 101 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: strip the thatched roof off of that family's house in 102 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: an effort to prevent them from moving back into their 103 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: former homes. Holland was therefore interested in technologies that might 104 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:10,679 Speaker 1: help turn the scales against a force that otherwise could 105 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: seem insurmountable. England's navy was the envy of the world, 106 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: so how could Ireland ever stand up to them? Holland 107 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,239 Speaker 1: would immigrate to the United States in eighteen seventy three, 108 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: and not long after he arrived, he fell and broke 109 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: his leg, and he was laid up for a few months. 110 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: So to occupy his mind, he began to seriously consider 111 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: how one might overcome the challenges of building a practical submarine. 112 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: He continued working on his ideas for a new submarine, 113 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: and then he presented those ideas to the United States 114 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: Navy in eighteen seventy five. The Navy initially dismissed the 115 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: designs as quote a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman 116 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: end quote. The Navy was famously skeptical of submarines. Holland, undeterred, 117 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: made a model nearly three ftlaw It's about thirty three 118 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: or four cimeters in length, and demonstrated it at Coney 119 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: Island in New York. The Fenian Brotherhood, which was an 120 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: organization made up of Irish and Irish American people who 121 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: believed Ireland had a natural right to independence from Britain, 122 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,679 Speaker 1: would end up funding his efforts to build a larger 123 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: working model. This one, about twice the size of the original, 124 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: was called the Fenian Ram in an article in The 125 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: New York Sun. It was not named that by Holland himself. 126 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: The Fenian Ram would reduce its buoyancy by taking on water, 127 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: you know, otherwise known as ballast, but overall it would 128 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: maintain positive bulliancy, so it wouldn't just sink to the bottom. 129 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: It would actually bob up to the surface. But to 130 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: maintain its position under water, the Fenian Ram depended upon 131 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: a set of horizontal planes. They actually called them horizontal 132 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: rudders back then. They're kind of like airplane wings, but 133 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 1: you could angle them so that when there was forward 134 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: motion from the submarine in the water, the water itself 135 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: would push the submarine downward as it flowed over these 136 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: horizontal planes, so kind of like how an airplane's wings 137 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: create the lift in order to lift an airplane off 138 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: the ground. These were sort of doing lift but in reverse. 139 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,559 Speaker 1: So if the sub we're moving, it could remain under water. 140 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: But if it stopped moving, let's say the engine failed, 141 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: then it would at least in theory, bob up to 142 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: the surface and then whoever was in the submarine could 143 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: get the heck out of it. The Fenian Ram also 144 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: had a pneumatic gun that it could fire steel projectiles from, 145 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: and those steel projectiles would be filled with dynamite, which 146 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: sounds super safe. So this was kind of like a 147 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: very primitive torpedo. And when not in use, then the 148 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: guns who would be sealed with a cap, so you 149 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: would have the cap in place until you're ready to fire, 150 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: and then you would have to move the cap out 151 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: of the way, fire the gun, and then hope for 152 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: the best. I guess some shenanigans among the members of 153 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: the Fenian Society would sour Holland on the whole experience. 154 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: In fact, one faction of this group it sort of 155 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: broke apart, and one faction ended up stealing the Fenian 156 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: Ram and almost immediately sunk it. Holland refused to work 157 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: with them. They ended up storing it in a shed, 158 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: and he famously said something along the lines of I 159 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: hope it rots on their hands. He did continue to 160 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: work on innovations with submarines, and in his mind the 161 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: goal would be not to escalate tensions between Ireland and Britain, 162 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: but rather to pave the way for world peace. He 163 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: was thinking, well, if you know your enemy has a 164 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: weapon that you cannot detect, you cannot see it, and 165 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: that weapon could sneak up on you and destroy your 166 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: most powerful ships, then you're not going to be aggressive 167 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: towards that country, right. You already know if you're aggressive 168 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: toward them, they can attack you without you seeing them, 169 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: and they can lay waste to your forces and your shipping, 170 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:12,719 Speaker 1: and so it makes sense you'll back off. And then 171 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: if everybody has these, no one would dare attack anybody else. So, 172 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: in other words, it would be a weapon of deterrence. 173 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: And it's sort of the same concept that would underlay 174 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: the whole mutual destruction philosophy during the Cold War. And 175 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: as we know, due to hindsight, this idea rarely works out. 176 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: I mean, you could argue that the conditions in Europe 177 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: leading up to World War One were kind of similar 178 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 1: If everyone built up these big armies, no one would 179 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: ever be so foolhardy as to use them. But at 180 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: some point or another, someone tends to decide that it's 181 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: worth the risk. We were lucky than no one thought 182 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: that during the Cold War with nuclear proliferation, and we 183 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: can only hope that the same will prove true in 184 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: the future. Anyway, Holland would end working as a draftsman 185 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: for many years until the early eighteen nineties when the U. S. 186 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: Navy called for submissions for the design of a submarine. 187 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: So the U. S. Navy was starting to come around 188 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: to the idea. At this point, Holland decided to make 189 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,680 Speaker 1: an effort to win a contract with the Navy, and 190 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: he sank a lot of his own money into this 191 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: project and then sought investments from some businessmen to complete 192 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: his submission. They formed what would become the Electric Boat Company, 193 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: which would own all of Holland's patents. The Navy would 194 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: insist on certain elements in the design, and Holland objected 195 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: to those elements. Primarily, he objected to the inclusion of 196 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: a steam engine because well, it would be really hot, 197 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: but it was also what all the Navy's ships were 198 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: relying upon for propulsion at the time, that this was 199 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: what was generating the the power needed to propel ships, 200 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: so they wanted their submarines to be working on the 201 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: same principle. Holland pointed out that a boiler set a 202 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: submarine would cause the interior of the submarine to heat 203 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: up to intolerable levels. Even argued that maybe if you 204 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: want to have a steamer, if you want to have 205 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: a boiler on the ship, at least let me use 206 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: some insulation to help shield the operator from the heat. 207 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: But the Navy said, no, we don't do that for 208 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: any of our ships. And the Electric Boat Company would 209 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: comply with the Navy's orders and began to build a 210 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: ship called the Plunger. But Holland's concerns proved to be 211 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: on point. It was and you just couldn't stand to 212 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: be inside this thing with the boiler going. It was 213 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: just way too hot. The Navy would decide not to 214 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: commission the Plunger, so the Plunger was never officially a 215 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: Navy ship. Holland convinced his business partners to let him 216 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: design an alternative to the Plunger. It was a submarine 217 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: that he would call the Holland six. He had built 218 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,439 Speaker 1: five previous submarines. The Plunger was technically the Holland five. 219 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: He was able to launch a new prototype submarine on 220 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: May seventeen. This submarine was innovative for a couple of reasons. 221 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: One is that it used a gasoline powered engine to 222 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: operate when the submarine was surfaced. When it would go 223 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 1: below the waves, then it could switch to a system 224 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: of batteries and electric motors. The advances and electricity meant 225 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: that Holland could build a system that didn't require combustion. 226 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: Combustion works great when you have a way to vent 227 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: fumes and you also have access to oxygen, because it 228 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: needs oxygen in order for it to work, but if 229 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: you're in an underwater tube, the combustion is not the 230 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: most ideal method to power your propulsion system. The electric 231 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: motors made it possible to build a submarine that could 232 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: operate without the limitations of manpower or compressed air, though 233 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: you would have to surface and run the submarine on 234 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: its gasoline powered engine in order to recharge the batteries. 235 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: Holland changed the center of buoyancy for this ship, as 236 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: well earlier ships that he had built had put the 237 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: center of buoyancy very very close to the center of 238 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: the ship itself, so right smack dab along the middle 239 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,559 Speaker 1: of the length of the ship. Holland decided to change 240 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: his design so that the center of buoyancy was moved 241 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: further forward in the submarines frame. This would become a 242 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: common feature in submarines after Holland's design. His ship had 243 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: compressed air tanks as well. These were there to supply 244 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,359 Speaker 1: fresh air to the operator while the ship was going underwater. 245 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: Had a telescoping air vent that could access air above 246 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: water when the ship was not far from the surface, 247 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: and of course the operator could open up the hatch 248 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: of the submarine itself to access air once the submarine 249 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: had surfaced. It's highly recommended you do not open the 250 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: hatch when you're underwater. One other innovation that Holland made 251 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: was in the ballast tanks. Earlier submarines had problems with 252 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: stability when water in the ballast tanks would slash around. 253 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,479 Speaker 1: I talked about that with l Planeur, the French submarine 254 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: from the last episode. So Holland's solution was to make 255 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: certain the ballast tanks would be completely full with no 256 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: free air space inside of them. That way, the water 257 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: couldn't slash at all. It was completely occupying the space 258 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: inside the ballast tanks. That allowed for controlled diving and 259 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: ascending using just those horizontal rudders, those horizontal planes I 260 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, and using the forward motion of the ship 261 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: to guide the submarine. He also moved the horizontal rudders 262 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: to the end of the ship towards the propellers, and 263 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: that meant that a small change in the orientation of 264 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: the rudder would result in a much greater change for 265 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: the rest of the ship. It's kind of like the 266 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: lever effect. Holland demonstrated the Holland six to the Navy, 267 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: which put it through numerous paces. The Navy was staffed 268 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: with admirals who were still incredibly skeptical about the capabilities 269 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: of an underwater ship. I mean, there was no deck 270 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: for you to strut upon and to be all grand 271 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: and stuff while you commanded your men too, you know, 272 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: needlessly sacrifice themselves over and over again. So how could 273 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: this be a proper use of a sailor's time? But 274 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: the Holland six completed all the tests very well, and 275 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: ultimately the Navy commissioned the ship as the USS Holland, 276 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: and The Holland would become the first real practical submarine 277 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: in the U. S. Navy's fleet, and it established the U. S. 278 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: Navy's submarine force. The Holland was armed as well. Originally 279 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: it had three armaments. One was a torpedo tube from 280 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: which the Holland could fire whitehead torpedoes like the ones 281 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier. A secondary port above that one would 282 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: allow for a pneumatic gun to fire what they called 283 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: air torpedoes, pretty much what the Fenian Ram could do. 284 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: There was a third gun, which was another pneumatic dynamite 285 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: gun that would face backward. It's on the stern of 286 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,200 Speaker 1: the submarine and would face behind it. The stern gun 287 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: would end up being scrapped in favor of an improved 288 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: exhaust system, since the gasoline engine would generate some pretty 289 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: nasty fumes in operation and needed to have a clear 290 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: way to exhaust those fumes and get fresh oxygen into 291 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: the combustion chamber. The Holland served as a Navy ship, 292 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: largely being used in experimental missions to help refine the 293 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: design and construction of future submarines, but by the nineteen thirties, 294 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: the Navy had decommissioned the Holland and she was scrapped 295 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: in Boston, and only a plate bearing her name remains, 296 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: a metal plate that is not a dinner plate. As 297 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: for the Electric Boat Company, they would sell submarines to 298 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: the U. S. Navy, to Japan, to Russia, and even 299 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: to the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, the dreaded 300 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 1: force that Holland had plotted against many years earlier. As 301 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: for Holland, he would work for the Electric Boat Company, 302 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: but over time he began to dis agree with the 303 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: board of directors, primarily over submarine designs that he considered 304 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: to be unsafe. After several accidents on submarines, many named 305 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: after Holland himself, he decided to resign from the company. 306 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: He retired by seven and he died about seven years later, 307 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: just before World War One, when the submarine would be 308 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 1: put to great use in war. I'll explain more in 309 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: just a moment, but first let's take a quick break. 310 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: One thing I want to talk about before I get 311 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,440 Speaker 1: right back into the history of submarines is the use 312 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: of periscopes, and a periscope is a device mint to 313 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: conduct light from one area to another for the purposes 314 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: of seeing what the heck is going on in some 315 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: area that would otherwise be inaccessible. So it's done with 316 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: mirrors and prisms, and it captures the light from one 317 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,360 Speaker 1: spot and then conducts that light to another spot. It's 318 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: kind of like looking through the viewfinder of a camera, 319 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: except that the lens is positioned somewhere, you know, maybe 320 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: several feet away from you, like above you, and uh. 321 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: It's an ingenious invention. And there are not a lot 322 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: of details about when periscopes were first added to submarines. 323 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: They had been known for a long time before submarines 324 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,120 Speaker 1: started to use them, but it was fairly early on 325 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:29,479 Speaker 1: with submarines to to have periscopes. Collapsible periscopes would have 326 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 1: to wait for a little bit longer, but even they 327 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: would become pretty common for submarines by the nineteen tens. 328 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: With a periscope, a submariner could get a look at 329 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 1: what was around a submarine without the sub having to 330 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: fully surface and you know, someone would have to open 331 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: up a hatch and stick their head out and go, 332 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: what's going on this side. With Holland's innovations, more companies 333 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: began building submarines, and because of the clear military applications, 334 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: the world powers all got into the game. Over in Germany, 335 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: shipbuilders were making onto our sea boats or U boats, 336 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:10,360 Speaker 1: while Holland was demonstrating his gasoline electric hybrid. Germans were 337 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: working with steam powered subs, but engineers soon graduated to 338 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,439 Speaker 1: other types of engines, and by the early nineteen tens, 339 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: Germany had successfully launched submarines using diesel engines when they 340 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: were on the surface and electric systems when they were underwater. 341 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,880 Speaker 1: One class of these submarines, the Unite teen class, would 342 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: end up playing a pivotal role during World War One. 343 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: Submarines were still a new concept in naval warfare, and 344 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: they proved to be devastatingly effective in disrupting shipping lines. 345 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: A submarine could approach a target ship with almost no 346 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: warning before firing upon it, and it didn't take long 347 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: for the British to look into ways to counteract the 348 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: threat of submarines, leading to the development of explosives that 349 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: could be set off under water. These became known as 350 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: depth charges. They weren't effective as weapons unless they happened 351 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:10,120 Speaker 1: to explode really close to a submarine, but they were 352 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: effective deterrence, probably because being aboard a submarine that's just 353 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,360 Speaker 1: in decent working order is already pretty darn risky. If 354 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: you start hearing explosions going off, even if they're not 355 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: right next to you, you're probably having a lot of 356 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: second thoughts. In nineteen fifteen, a U nineteen class submarine 357 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,680 Speaker 1: called s m U twenty and yes, I know it's confusing, 358 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: but that's because there were four submarines that were in 359 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: the U nineteen class, the first of which was U 360 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: nineteen and then the other's U twenty twenty one and 361 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:44,159 Speaker 1: you twenty two. Anyway, it fired on a cruise liner 362 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: called the Lusitania. The ship was struck by a torpedo 363 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,199 Speaker 1: and it sank in less than twenty minutes, with the 364 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: loss of nearly twelve hundred people. The Germans maintained that 365 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: the Lusitania was being used to move munitions in addition 366 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:02,880 Speaker 1: to acting as a cruise liner, which the UK government 367 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: denied for decades until more recent years when they owned 368 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: up to it because salvage operations would have encountered potentially 369 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: dangerous conditions due to the explosives that were in fact 370 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: on board the Lusitania. The sinking of The Lusitania, which 371 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: had nearly a hundred thirty American citizens on board, would 372 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,880 Speaker 1: also end up setting the stage for America to get 373 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,959 Speaker 1: directly involved in the conflict a couple of years later. Now, 374 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: this involves having to talk about some political concepts that 375 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: are not directly related to submarines. Germany's use of submarines 376 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: prompted the UK to outfit some merchant ships with heavy 377 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: guns that could easily be concealed and then brought to 378 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: bear on a submarine once it's surfaced. These ships were bait. Essentially, 379 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: they were bait meant to lure German U boat commanders 380 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: to maneuver into a position where the U boats could 381 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: be attacked and you could are you that it was 382 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: this practice that set the conditions necessary for a tragedy 383 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: like the sinking of the Lusitania to happen. So let 384 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: me explain. For more than a century, the practice was 385 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: for all military ships to follow what we're called cruiser 386 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: rules or prize rules. These rules stated that a government's 387 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:29,880 Speaker 1: ships would not fire upon civilian or merchant vessels without warning. 388 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: So you could stop a vessel, You could sail up 389 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: to a merchant ship or a civilian ship, and you 390 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: could demand that they do whatever. They could surrender the 391 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: boat or they could leave the area, and then if 392 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: they did not do that, then you would have the 393 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: authorization to fire upon that ship. But you couldn't just 394 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: fire upon them with no warning. And typically the way 395 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: this would work is that you would stop a ship. 396 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: You would then transport all the crew and passengers off 397 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: of the ship to some safe location, and then you 398 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,360 Speaker 1: could search the vessel for any sort of contraband like munitions. 399 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: The Q fifteen boats those are the heavily armed merchant 400 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 1: vessels that the British were creating. They could fire upon 401 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,719 Speaker 1: a submarine that had surfaced before the submarine could fire back. 402 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: Because the submarine would surface, the submarines captain would be 403 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,719 Speaker 1: following the cruiser rules to demand to search a vessel. 404 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,440 Speaker 1: In the meantime, the crew aboard one of these Q 405 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: fifteen boats could bring the guns to bear and fire 406 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: upon the submarine. This was considered unfair by the submarine operators, 407 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:45,920 Speaker 1: after all, they were following the rules. They were saying, hey, 408 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: we're not just opening up fire on these ships. We're 409 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: you know, following the protocol. So then Germany decided to 410 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:02,120 Speaker 1: adopt a different set of philosophies unrestricted marine warfare, which 411 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,719 Speaker 1: means that if a ship is in an area that 412 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 1: was considered a war zone, it was fair game. Didn't 413 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: matter if it was a merchant ship, a civilian ship, 414 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: a military ship. It would mean that a submarine or 415 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: any ship captain could fire upon it because it was 416 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: in a war zone. And that gets us to the 417 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: sinking of the Lusitania. Because the Lusitania was in such 418 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: a zone and the Unit twenty submarine fired upon it, 419 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: the United States government demanded that Germany stop all kinds 420 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 1: of unrestricted submarine warfare operations, and Germany initially agreed. You know, 421 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: in the United States was not in World War One yet, 422 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: so Germany didn't want to to get the US involved 423 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: because that would turn the tide and make things much 424 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: more difficult, so they agreed, But then eventually they returned 425 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: to an unrestricted approach in nineteen seventeen, uh for lots 426 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: of reasons that I won't get into because it goes 427 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: beyond this podcast. But that meant that the United States 428 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: entered World War One, and I realized all of this 429 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: has more to do with the use of submarines rather 430 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: than in how they work. But I figure it was 431 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: also an important point to touch upon and it shows 432 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: how the response to the submarine threat really made Holland's 433 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: dream of ending warfare a naive wish, right. It didn't 434 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: turn out that the submarine was so terrifying that it 435 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: made war have to stop. It just made war different. 436 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: The U nineteen class submarine was much larger than the 437 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,879 Speaker 1: Holland class subs that were being used by the Royal Navy. 438 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: These were also slightly different from the US version of 439 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: the Holland submarines were based on the same design, so 440 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: let's do some comparison. The Holland class sub measured sixty 441 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: three ft ten inches long that's about nineteen and a 442 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:55,160 Speaker 1: half meters, and it was eleven ft nine inches across 443 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: or three point six meters, and it carried a crew 444 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,159 Speaker 1: of eight sailors. It had a single torpedo tube. The 445 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: U nineteen was two hundred ten and a half feet 446 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: long or nearly sixty four point two meters, It was 447 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: twenty feet or six point one meters wide, and it 448 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: carried a complement of thirty five sailors. The U nineteen 449 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 1: had dual eight cylinder diesel engines, and two motors for propulsion. 450 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: She could reach a speed of fifteen and a half 451 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: knots that's about eighteen miles per hour on the surface, 452 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,240 Speaker 1: or nine and a half knots or eleven miles per 453 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: hour when submerged. She could also travel eleven thousand, two 454 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,199 Speaker 1: hundred miles or around eighteen thousand kilometers if she was 455 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 1: traveling when surfaced, she could dive to a depth of 456 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 1: a hundred sixty four feet. She couldn't travel underwater for 457 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: very long, however, because like the Holland, she would switch 458 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,639 Speaker 1: to electrical power and that would quickly drain the batteries. 459 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: Battery technology in nineteen seventeen was not that great. The 460 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: diesel engines could power dynamos to recharge the battery is 461 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 1: once the ship's surfaced, so most of the time it 462 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,640 Speaker 1: traveled above the water, and typically would only go under 463 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 1: the water when preparing to attack a target. The U 464 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,440 Speaker 1: nineteen class had four five hundred millimeter torpedo tubes, two 465 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: in the bow and two in the stern, and it 466 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: would also carry six torpedo reloads. After nineteen sixteen, the 467 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: submarines would also have a deck gun, and there were 468 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: four submarines in that class. Like I said U nineteen 469 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: to U twenty two. Germany would go on to develop 470 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: other classes of submarines, like the UB class, which were 471 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: meant for coastal operations. They would not venture that far 472 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: from Germany, so they were more limited in their capabilities, 473 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: but that just meant that they were also faster and 474 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: more nimble than their bigger cousins. Then you had the 475 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: long range submarine cruiser that was the U A class. 476 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: These subs were real beasts. They were longer than the 477 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: U nineteen, They were able to travel further and faster, 478 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: and carried a complement of fifty six sailors with room 479 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: for twenty more people aboard the ship. Germany planned to 480 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: make forty seven of the U A submarines, but only 481 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: nine had been completed before the war ended. During the 482 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: course of World War One, the German submarines would be 483 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: responsible for sinking around four thousand ships, and Germany would 484 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: lose around one hundred seventy three submarines in the process. 485 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: By the time the United States entered World War One, 486 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: it was clear that the country was way behind when 487 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: it came to submarines. The country that had served as 488 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: the home for the first practical submarine was now left 489 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,959 Speaker 1: in the wake, so to speak. An engineer named Simon 490 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: Lake had designed submarines for the U. S. Navy, but 491 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: these were mostly used for experimental purposes. One of them 492 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: set a depth record in nine of two hundred sixty 493 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: five feet or seventy eight meters. For example, the U. S. 494 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: Navy had classified their submarines by letter, so by the 495 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: time you get to the L class submarine, which launched 496 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen, that one took nearly two and a 497 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: half minutes to dive beneath the surface of the ocean. 498 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: Compare that to the UB class submarine, the coastal submarine 499 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: in Germany, that could do the same thing in less 500 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: than thirty seconds. Meanwhile, scientists and engineers began developing a 501 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: technology that could detect submarines underwater, and it would ultimately 502 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: get called sonar, which would retroactively become an acronym for 503 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: sound navigation and ranging. The concept is pretty simple. In fact, 504 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:36,040 Speaker 1: for passive sonar it's dead simple, because really it just 505 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: means listening for sounds made by vehicles like submarines. So 506 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: it involved developing hydrophones, essentially microphones that can work underwater. 507 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: But even if we go with active sonar, it's pretty 508 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: easy to understand. It's all based off echolocation. Basically, the 509 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: ideas that you send out a sound like a low 510 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: pitched ping noise. Low frequency sounds can travel pretty far. 511 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 1: The sound travels through the water until it hits the 512 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: surface and then it bounces back. And by measuring the 513 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: amount of time it took for a sound to leave 514 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,640 Speaker 1: and then to return to you, and presuming you know 515 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: what the speed of sound is through the water you 516 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: are in, you can get an idea of how far 517 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: away an object is. And by doing it a lot 518 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: of times, you can also figure out if whatever the 519 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: thing is is traveling toward you or away from you, 520 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: what the size of it is. Lots of information like that. Now, 521 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: while this was initially developed as a means of just 522 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,719 Speaker 1: detecting and thus targeting submarines in warfare, engineers would adapt 523 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: sonar so it could be used as a navigation system 524 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: aboard submarines. In general, sub mariners have to rely upon 525 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: a collection of gauges and meters when they are underwater. 526 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: Military submarines don't have windows, and besides, once you dive 527 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: down a bit, it's just it's so dark that you 528 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 1: can't navigate by sight anyway. So you need to know 529 00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: where you are. You need to know how fast you 530 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: are traveling, how far you are going, which might not 531 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: be intuitive depending upon whether you're traveling with or against 532 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: the current, how deep you are, how deep the water 533 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: is so, how much more space do you have below 534 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: you before you hit ground, and whether or not there's 535 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: anything you need to worry about around you, like any 536 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: types of of wreckage or sandbars or things like that. 537 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: Sonar we become a huge help, as it would let 538 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 1: the navigation crew know if there were something they needed 539 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: to maneuver around, and over time submarine crews were creating 540 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: incredibly detailed maps of various areas of the ocean, which 541 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: was necessary if you wanted to pilot your submarine without 542 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: having to scrape up against something or get embedded in 543 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: mud or sand. When we come back, i'll talk about 544 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: the advancements in submarine technology during the Second World War 545 00:32:52,400 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: and beyond, But first let's take another quick break. After 546 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 1: World War One, many countries signed treaties that placed limits 547 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: on stuff like how big a navy a country would 548 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: be allowed to have. You know, we were starting to 549 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: figure out, hey, maybe if we don't constrain ourselves to 550 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: the size of our militaries, that just leads to these 551 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: massive conflicts. This would in turn have an effect on shipbuilders, 552 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: really anyone who was in the military industrial complex, people 553 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: who found themselves on uh shaky ground because they couldn't 554 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:37,239 Speaker 1: land those sweet military contracts anymore because those limitations. One 555 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,280 Speaker 1: thing that did happen in nineteen nineteen, after World War 556 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: One had already ended, was that a German U boat 557 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 1: was sunk in American waters. This was actually a matter 558 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 1: of propaganda. The U SEE ninety seven was turned over 559 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 1: to the U. S. Navy, which studied it, and then 560 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: it was sent to go on sort of a victory 561 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: tour or on the Great Lakes. People American citizens could 562 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: get a look at one of the dreaded U boats, 563 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,319 Speaker 1: and an event was planned on Lake Michigan, during which 564 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: the submarine was purposefully sunk, presumably too great applause. The U. S. 565 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: Navy had been using an alpha numeric classification system for 566 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,280 Speaker 1: its submarines, working up the alphabet with each new class 567 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,000 Speaker 1: of sub Like I mentioned the L class earlier, which 568 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: was a pre World War One class of submarine, Once 569 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:35,720 Speaker 1: the US hit the S class of submarines, things changed. 570 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: They changed the naming convention and the name of a 571 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,879 Speaker 1: submarine would begin with the letters S S and then 572 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,560 Speaker 1: a number, and the names for the classes would be 573 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: given names, often of of c creatures, and they were 574 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: typically named after the first submarine of that class. So 575 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 1: the very first of these was the Barracuda class submarines 576 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: designated S S one sixty three through S S one 577 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 1: sixty five, so there are three of them. Uh, the 578 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 1: individual submarines each had named, So you had Barracuda, after 579 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:11,960 Speaker 1: which the class was named, and you also had the 580 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 1: Bonita and the Bass. Meanwhile, in Japan, the Japanese took 581 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: possession of seven German U boats and then invited nearly 582 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,360 Speaker 1: one thousand German experts in the design, construction, and operation 583 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,439 Speaker 1: of submarines to jump start Japan's efforts to have its 584 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:30,920 Speaker 1: own submarine fleet, which would become very important for Japan 585 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: during World War Two. By treaty, Germany was technically forbidden 586 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: to have a submarine fleet, but the country secretly began 587 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: developing the next generation of submarine technology and even purchased 588 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: a Dutch ship building company that had been designing submarines 589 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: for the international market. In the United States, in nineteen five, 590 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:55,319 Speaker 1: some accidents involving submarines and surface ships had resulted in 591 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: the death of many submariners, and that prompted new efforts 592 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,719 Speaker 1: to create mean of escaping a sinking submarine. A submariner 593 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,239 Speaker 1: named Charles Swede Momson came up with an idea a 594 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 1: special rescue chamber kind of a modified diving bell thing 595 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,439 Speaker 1: that could be lowered from a surface ship to dock 596 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,399 Speaker 1: with the submarines escape hatch and provide a safe way 597 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: for submariners to abandon ship. His basic design was later 598 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: refined by Alan Rockwell McCann, after whom the device would 599 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: get its name, the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber. The chamber 600 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: would prove its worth in nineteen thirty nine when the 601 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: Navy used it to rescue thirty three surviving crew members 602 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 1: from a submarine called the Squalis. It had sunk after 603 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: an accident. There was an explosion, part of the submarine flooded. 604 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,760 Speaker 1: All of the crew in that part of the submarine 605 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: were lost, and the other thirty three we were able 606 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: to be rescued using this particular rescue chamber. In the 607 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,920 Speaker 1: mid nineteen thirties, Germany renounced the Treaty of Versailles and 608 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: the U one series of submarines went into action. Germany 609 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,400 Speaker 1: again a new strategy called wolf pack, in which groups 610 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 1: of seven to eight submarines would form night attacks on targets. 611 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,280 Speaker 1: Then they would submerge to escape, and once the submarines 612 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 1: reached a sufficient distance from their targets and presumably detection, 613 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,839 Speaker 1: they would resurface, and then they would sail to the 614 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:25,680 Speaker 1: next attack zone to prepare for the following night. The 615 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:30,240 Speaker 1: submarines fell into categories like coastal submarines, long range boats, 616 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 1: and then Germany also had a Type seven submarine. This 617 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:36,880 Speaker 1: was meant to fill in depending on what was needed 618 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,040 Speaker 1: at the time, so kind of a jack of all 619 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,680 Speaker 1: trades submarine. Germany would build more than seven hundred submarines 620 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:48,240 Speaker 1: across these different classifications throughout the course of World War Two. 621 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 1: One German innovation in World War two got around a 622 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 1: huge problem that submariners had been having since the invention 623 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 1: of the submarine. It couldn't stay submerged indefinitely because of 624 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: a couple of big problems. One was that the electrical 625 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,320 Speaker 1: systems would drain the batteries and then they'd be without power. 626 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,799 Speaker 1: Plus they'd have to get access to atmospheric air occasionally 627 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: because they could only carry so much air aboard the ship. 628 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:18,359 Speaker 1: A German scientist named Hellmuth Vaulter figured out that by 629 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,760 Speaker 1: using a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide, he could solve 630 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: both of those issues at once. The H two O 631 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,360 Speaker 1: two would release an enormous amount of heat as it 632 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,800 Speaker 1: broke down, which could then be used to generate steam 633 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:36,560 Speaker 1: to turn a turbine and power and electrical generator, and 634 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: a convenient byproduct of this process would be oxygen. The design, 635 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: while capable of generating enough energy to move a sub 636 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: at a very zippy speed compared to its diesel engine variants, 637 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 1: would also require a lot of hydrogen peroxide. It was 638 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:59,279 Speaker 1: determined to be about twenty five times more fuel hungry 639 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,800 Speaker 1: than a d Old powered submarine, so it was thought 640 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 1: to be expensive and not terribly practical. Plus at the time, 641 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,439 Speaker 1: Hitler was pretty sure he had this whole war thing 642 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,800 Speaker 1: sewn up. At that point, this would be around nineteen 643 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,720 Speaker 1: forty and so Germany never pursued the concept any further. 644 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 1: While the US wasn't yet involved in World War two. 645 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,920 Speaker 1: At that point, the country did escalate its submarine manufacturing efforts. 646 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,320 Speaker 1: The Navy settled on two designs for submarines to serve 647 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 1: as the template sports World War two subs. The first, 648 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,960 Speaker 1: established in nineteen forty, was the Gotto class, and the 649 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,680 Speaker 1: second class, called Balao, was essentially the same as the Gotto, 650 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 1: but with some improvements added to the design. Now I'm 651 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:47,719 Speaker 1: going to skip to the end of World War Two 652 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:51,040 Speaker 1: here because otherwise this would become a very long laundry 653 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,319 Speaker 1: list of battles and encounters, and that's not really this 654 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: show's focus. There also be some crossover to other topics 655 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: I've covered in the past, such as code breaking, because 656 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,920 Speaker 1: that would become an important part of the various war efforts, 657 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: both on the Axis and the Allied sides, and it 658 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,440 Speaker 1: very much was centered around submarine operations. But I've covered 659 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:16,719 Speaker 1: that in other shows. And by the end of the war, 660 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: Germany had lost more than eight hundred submarines, so not 661 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: just the seven hundred had produced, but some that it 662 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: had still had on its own. The United States lost 663 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: fifty two submarines, Russia lost a hundred nine submarines. Russia 664 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 1: had also begun the war with the largest submarine fleet, 665 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,719 Speaker 1: but during the course of the war, their manufacturing was 666 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:43,000 Speaker 1: far outpaced by other countries. By ninety eight, the United 667 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 1: States began to experiment with sub launched missile systems, so 668 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: you could launch missiles from submarines. By nineteen fifty three, 669 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:57,359 Speaker 1: United States submarines could carry nuclear missiles, which made them 670 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:02,880 Speaker 1: particularly dangerous useful in the Cold War. If you can 671 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:07,520 Speaker 1: create a nuclear missile launch facility, then you can park 672 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,160 Speaker 1: it off the coast of whatever country you're looking at. 673 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: You didn't have to worry if the missile itself couldn't 674 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:19,080 Speaker 1: travel the entire length of the globe. In nineteen fifty four, 675 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,960 Speaker 1: the United States launched the Nautilus, a very popular name 676 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,640 Speaker 1: for submarines. This version of the Nautilus would have a 677 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:30,000 Speaker 1: nuclear powered engine in it, So this was the first 678 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: nuclear powered submarine. And I've talked a little bit in 679 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 1: other episodes about how nuclear power works. Essentially, you have 680 00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 1: a controlled nuclear decay process and that generates a lot 681 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: of heat, use that heat to boil water into steam, 682 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,200 Speaker 1: and you use the steam to turn turbines which are 683 00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 1: part of an electrical generator system. The United States has 684 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 1: lost two such nuclear submarines, both in accidents. One happened 685 00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:00,239 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three. That submarine was called the thresh Sure, 686 00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,320 Speaker 1: and no one knows for sure what exactly happened leading 687 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 1: up to the accident. The submarine sank in water that 688 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,920 Speaker 1: was about seven thousand feet deeper than what the submarines 689 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:17,480 Speaker 1: whole could withstand, so there was very likely total whole 690 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:21,560 Speaker 1: collapse before the submarine settled to the bottom, and it 691 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 1: demonstrated that there was a need to develop a rescue 692 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 1: system that could work at much greater depths than the 693 00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 1: mccan rescue chamber, and that led to the development of 694 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,920 Speaker 1: the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle or d s r V. 695 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: These are like submarine lifeboats. They can navigate down to 696 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,560 Speaker 1: a maximum depth of five thousand feet and they are 697 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,480 Speaker 1: designed to dock with the escape hatch of a submarine, 698 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:51,400 Speaker 1: so you would transfer submariners over to this smaller submersible 699 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:56,840 Speaker 1: vehicle and then navigate away from the sunken sub The 700 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:01,520 Speaker 1: second accident happened in nineteen sixty eight with the USS Scorpion, 701 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,759 Speaker 1: which may have sunk due to an accident with one 702 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,520 Speaker 1: of the submarine's own torpedoes. There's other stuff that I 703 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:13,280 Speaker 1: could also cover in this episode. I haven't really touched 704 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,879 Speaker 1: on a lot of the life support system improvements over 705 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,439 Speaker 1: the years, so let's talk about that for a second, 706 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,160 Speaker 1: because obviously these are really important. All the older subs, 707 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,520 Speaker 1: you know, they had things like snorkels, and they would 708 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: get up enough, you know, close enough to the surface 709 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:29,240 Speaker 1: where the snorkels could open up and get a little 710 00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:32,400 Speaker 1: bit of fresh air into the submarine. Otherwise you had 711 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: to open up the hatch to air it out, but 712 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:39,360 Speaker 1: that doesn't really work if you're doing prolonged operations under 713 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 1: the water. You have other issues you have to worry about. 714 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,280 Speaker 1: For example, you've got to figure out how to get 715 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: all that carbon dioxide out of the ship, because at 716 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,760 Speaker 1: higher concentrations of c O two you get to toxic 717 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,080 Speaker 1: levels and people will die. So to take care of that, submarines, 718 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: particularly in the nuclear era where US some ring could 719 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:05,000 Speaker 1: at least in theory, operate for weeks without surfacing, you 720 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:08,880 Speaker 1: have to carry what are called scrubbers, and these rely 721 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:14,000 Speaker 1: on chemical compounds that essentially absorb carbon dioxide. So the 722 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:18,640 Speaker 1: carbon doxide gets absorbed by these chemicals and then you 723 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:22,400 Speaker 1: can treat those scrubbers to remove the CEO two, typically 724 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:25,840 Speaker 1: by heating it up, and then the CEO two gets released. 725 00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: You can capture the released CEO two and a UH 726 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: in a pressurized tank and then you can essentially jettison 727 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:36,680 Speaker 1: the CEO two into the ocean. So that's how we 728 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,840 Speaker 1: make sure that CEO two levels don't build up. On 729 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 1: top of that, you also need things like D humidifiers 730 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,719 Speaker 1: because as we you know, as we exhale, we're not 731 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:50,839 Speaker 1: just excelling carbon dioxide, we're also excelling water vapor, and 732 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 1: so without D humidifiers to capture some of that water vapor, 733 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:58,799 Speaker 1: you have a lot of condensation building up all over 734 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:03,960 Speaker 1: a shop. Pretty soon everything would be moist. What a 735 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:08,720 Speaker 1: great word, huh. To produce oxygen, the submarine can typically 736 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,640 Speaker 1: take on sea water and run it through a desalination 737 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:15,080 Speaker 1: process to create fresh water, so you're removing the salt 738 00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,520 Speaker 1: from the ocean water. Then with the freshwater, you apply 739 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,920 Speaker 1: an electric current to that water. The electric current breaks 740 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,319 Speaker 1: down the molecular bond between hydrogen and oxygen, so as 741 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,960 Speaker 1: a result, it starts to bubble and you get oxygen 742 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:33,200 Speaker 1: and hydrogen gas. This process is called electrolysis. And it's 743 00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,520 Speaker 1: how modern submarines replenish the supply of oxygen within a 744 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,000 Speaker 1: sub even if it operates underwater for weeks at a time. 745 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,320 Speaker 1: I also didn't go into detail over the various meters 746 00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: and gauges that you'd find aboard a submarine to monitor 747 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:50,840 Speaker 1: the sub's heading, its position, the amount of pressure on 748 00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,600 Speaker 1: the whole, and other factors. But then to do so 749 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,359 Speaker 1: would require two or three more episodes. And I'm sure 750 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,839 Speaker 1: I'll get around to it in the future and I'll 751 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:04,799 Speaker 1: over how those different pieces of submarines work. I think 752 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,400 Speaker 1: that this topic is fascinating. I personally have toured a 753 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:12,240 Speaker 1: few submarines, including a World War Two era submarine. In fact, 754 00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:15,279 Speaker 1: I remember my wife and I toured the submarine and 755 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 1: we were part of a tour group that was just 756 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:19,959 Speaker 1: four people. In fact, we thought it was just gonna 757 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,480 Speaker 1: be my wife and I at first, but then these 758 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:26,480 Speaker 1: two tourists joined us and a submarner took us on 759 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,920 Speaker 1: a tour of a World War two era submarine. We 760 00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:33,879 Speaker 1: were amazed at how small everything was. The average submariner 761 00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:39,759 Speaker 1: was of a slightly uh shorter than average height you 762 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,320 Speaker 1: had to be. The facilities were very small, the quarters. 763 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:47,400 Speaker 1: The bunks and stuff were quite small, and uh, we 764 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,120 Speaker 1: were taken through and we realized that the other two 765 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:54,839 Speaker 1: people in our group, um we're German, probably still are 766 00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,640 Speaker 1: and that made things interesting because we were talking about 767 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,919 Speaker 1: a World War two era submarine. But then the sub 768 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: mariner aboard cheerfully pointed out that that particular submarine had 769 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,799 Speaker 1: been used in the Pacific theater so far away from 770 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,120 Speaker 1: German ships, which seemed to make everything go much more 771 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,800 Speaker 1: smoothly for the rest of the tour. It was really 772 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:19,400 Speaker 1: neat to get a firsthand look at a submarine, and 773 00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:21,919 Speaker 1: I recommend that if you get a chance to tour 774 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,359 Speaker 1: a military submarine to check it out because it will 775 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:29,959 Speaker 1: give you a real appreciation for what sub mariners go through. 776 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:34,800 Speaker 1: They typically get additional hazard pay and it's completely understandable. 777 00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:38,440 Speaker 1: The quarters are tight. You have no view of the 778 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,080 Speaker 1: outside world, and chances are that if you're on a 779 00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:44,040 Speaker 1: nuclear powered submarine, you may not see the outside world 780 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,319 Speaker 1: for weeks at a time. You're you know, breathing in 781 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:53,640 Speaker 1: this air that's been processed through electrolysis. It's it's a 782 00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:58,360 Speaker 1: different kind of experience and um, yeah, it definitely opens 783 00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:01,880 Speaker 1: up your eyes to how strange that world must be. 784 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:06,480 Speaker 1: And that wraps up this episode and the two episode 785 00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:09,000 Speaker 1: overview of how submarines work. Like I said, there's a 786 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:11,000 Speaker 1: lot more that we could go into, and in the future, 787 00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:14,759 Speaker 1: I probably will revisit this topic and give more details. 788 00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:17,319 Speaker 1: But I hope that this gives you an appreciation for 789 00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:21,560 Speaker 1: the development and evolution of the submarine and uh, if 790 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,239 Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for future episodes, you can reach 791 00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,799 Speaker 1: out to me the email addresses tech stuff at how 792 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:29,520 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com, or you can pop on over 793 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:32,680 Speaker 1: to our website that's text stuff podcast dot com. You'll 794 00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:35,879 Speaker 1: find links to where we are on social media. You'll 795 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,600 Speaker 1: find an archive of all of our past episodes there, 796 00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:41,160 Speaker 1: and it's completely searchable so you can check and see 797 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,960 Speaker 1: if I've already covered a topic. And you'll also find 798 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,239 Speaker 1: a link to our online store where every purchase you 799 00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,120 Speaker 1: make ghost help the show and greatly appreciate it, and 800 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:56,680 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is 801 00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:59,160 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For 802 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:01,960 Speaker 1: more podcast us from I Heart Radio, visit the I 803 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,319 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 804 00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:10,840 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H