The C.S.S. Hunley, a confederate submarine, was originally a boiler, which was made into a 60’ long, cigar shaped sub. Eight men turned a crank attached to a propeller to produce movement, and the ship’s weapon was on explosive charge on a 15-foot pole attached to the bow. The Hunley was actually a deathtrap. More than a dozen men, including H.L. Hunley, the inventor, drowned or suffocated in test dives before the submarine was ready for battle. On February 17, 1964, off the harbor at Charleston, S.C., the Hunley attacked the Union ship Housatonic, crippling the enemy ship but going to the bottom with the victim.

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