Bushnell's Turtle (combat submarine)
Tortuga de Bushnell (submarino de combate)
- Date
- 1775-1776 · confidence high
- Place
- Old Saybrook, Connecticut, United States
- Credited to
- David Bushnell
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
The first submarine used in combat: an egg-shaped, one-man wooden capsule driven by hand-cranked screws with water ballast, which tried to attach an explosive charge to the hull of HMS Eagle in 1776.
The attack failed (it could not fix the charge to the hull, traditionally said to be copper-sheathed). No original plans exist and the account comes from Bushnell and Washington.
What it led to
- Fulton's Nautilus (1800)
- naval mines and torpedoes
- screw propellers in the 19th century