Known as the “Bayou St. John submarine”, this vessel was discovered when the Bayou St. John, in New Orleans was dredged by the US Government in 1878. For years, the vessel was thought to be the Confederate submarine Pioneer, but research in the 20th century showed it was of a different design. There is no surviving documentation from the Civil War about the construction of this submarine. It was presumably scuttled by the Confederacy during the Civil War when the Union capture of New Orleans was immanent.
It is being displayed in New Orleans in this picture, with what appears to be a local policeman in the photo.
It never ceases to amaze me just how old the first submarines ever made are/were. They feel like something that shouldn’t even be possible to have been made before the 20th century. Definitely might have to read up on this.
If Civil War submarines amaze you, the Revolutionary War submarine should knock your socks off.
I was originally going to post about the HL Hunley, which was also deployed during the Civil War. It was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. I got distracted when I came across this submarine while making the post.
The U.S. Civil War was a time of rapid transition from Napoleonic to “modern” war.
Here’s a decent listicle which includes the Hunley, a more sophisticated confederate sub, among others. It’s a decent jumping off point.
https://www.history.com/news/9-groundbreaking-early-submarines
Yes, the Hunley is great. I was originally wanting to post about it but there is a shortage of good period photographs of it.
The Louisiana State Museum has several pages on it.
That explains how they got it. Is there anywhere to read about what (if anything) it was used for during the war?
Not really. The submarine is something of a mystery, since as of yet historians haven’t found any documentation about it.
Neat.
It’s strangely adorable for a hunk of metal
Remind me of the ship from flight of the navigator
somehow it looks like both a throw pillow, and a spaceship from a 1950s sci fi film
Like all fascist regimes they turned to wonder weapons
