Frank Taylor Cable (19 June 1863 – 21 May 1945) was an early pioneer in

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

development and piloted the first

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

submarine, during its pre-commissioning trials.

Early life and education

Cable was born in

New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town, part of Greater Danbury, as well as the New York Metropolitan Area, has a population of 28,115 as of the 2020 census. New Milford lies north of Danbury on the ...

, where his father was a farmer. He attended

Claverack College Claverack College, also known as Washington Seminary and Hudson River Institute, was a coeducational boarding school in Claverack, New York, United States. Founded as a boys' academy, it operated from 1779 until 1902. It added a girls' school i ...

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

, followed by

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

and

Drexel Institute Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Career

Cable was employed by the Electro-Dynamic Company owned by financier Isaac Rice and

William Woodnut Griscom William Woodnut Griscom (c. 1851–1897) was an American inventor, credited with introducing electric motors for the purpose of marine propulsion. He also founded the Electro-Dynamic Company in 1880, based in Philadelphia, and had around 40 pate ...

. Rice was a financial supporter of inventor John Phillip Holland, whose

Holland Torpedo Boat Company Holland Torpedo Boat Company was founded by John Philip Holland (18411914) in 1893. Holland was an Irish engineer-inventor, who designed and built the first practical submarine. His ''Holland VI'' was renamed the USS ''Holland'' (SS-1), and became ...

(the forerunner and precursor to the

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

Division of

General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

) was developing a prototype submarine, ''Holland VI'', for the

. When ''Holland VI'' accidentally sank with its hatches open in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

on 13 October 1897, Cable was dispatched by Rice to assist with the repairs. The submarine's internal components had been flooded with corrosive salt water, leading to short circuits and corrosion. Cable had previously specialized in the design and production of propulsion machinery, including diesel engines and electric motors and was able to co-ordinate repair work and restore the submarine's operations. Cable was retained as an electrician at Holland's company — while still working for Rice — and made a number of changes to the submarine design. A key proposal of Cable's was to improve the submarine's handling by relocating the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and stern

diving plane Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to Pitch (flight), pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling ...

s aft the

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. The proposal was accepted and by 4 July 1898 ''Holland VI'' was ready for sea trials. Cable was chosen as the civilian trial captain and successfully commanded the vessel during its early operations. ''Holland VI'' was purchased by the United States Navy on 11 April 1900 with the initial designation of and the subsequent designation of SS-1. The craft was officially commissioned into U.S. Navy service on 12 October 1900. In 1902, Cable supervised the building of five submarines in England. Following the commissioning of USS ''Holland'', Cable was engaged to train prospective submarine crews in Britain, Japan and Russia. Upon his return to the United States in 1905, he went on to become a co-founder of the

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, based in

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

, the primary manufacturer of United States submarines. He was appointed company general manager in 1930 and died in 1945. Cable worked for Electric Boat for nearly 45 years. In 1910, Frank Cable and former Navy officer Lawrence Y. Spear organized the New London Ship and Engine Company (NELSECO) to build the diesel engines for the Navy's D and E class submarines. The NELSECO plant was located on the eastern bank of the Thames River in

where the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division yard is today (2018). Cable served as the vice-president and general manager of NELSECO until its merger with Electric Boat in 1930. Cable was appointed general manager of Electric Boat following the merger. Cable lived in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

until his death on 21 May 1945, at the age of 81. In 1978, the

submarine tender A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of foo ...

was named in his honour.

References

External links

* History of The Electric Boat Company and Frank Cable's role therein. https://web.archive.org/web/20061016074338/http://www.gdeb.com/about/centennial/eb-100yrs-2.html * Original site of operations for Electric Boat Company was at Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, New Jersey. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/crescent.htm
"Frank Taylor Cable"
''Gary McCue'', 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cable, Frank 1863 births 1945 deaths People from New Milford, Connecticut American electrical engineers Submarine pioneers Engineers from Connecticut

Early life and education

Career

References

Further reading

External links