H. L. Hunley 1863
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | H. L. Hunley | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1863 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | attack submarine, human-powered submarine | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Confederate States of America | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Confederate States Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 32.8567, -79.9589 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
H. L. Hunley, also known as Hunley, CSS H. L. Hunley, or CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that fought in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged, and following her attack was lost along with her crew before she could return to base. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, South Carolina.
Hunley, nearly 40 ft (12 m) long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. She was then shipped by rail on 12 August 1863 to Charleston. Hunley (then referred to as the "fish boat", the "fish torpedo boat", or the "porpoise") sank on 29 August 1863 during a test, killing five members of her crew. She sank again on 15 October 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Hunley himself. Both times Hunley was raised and returned to service.
On 17 February 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1,240-ton United States Navy screw sloop-of-war Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade duty in Charleston's outer harbor.
Location
- Recorded position: 32.8567, -79.9589 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article H. L. Hunley (revision 1378530185), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Brown's Ferry vessel 1730 · 85 km
- CSS Georgia 1864 · 133 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · Steam era