''Seeteufel ( Sea Devil)'' was a hand-powered

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 ...

Wilhelm Bauer Wilhelm Bauer (; 23 December 1822 – 20 June 1875) was a German marine engineer and inventor who built several hand-powered submarines. Biography Wilhelm Bauer was born in Dillingen in the Kingdom of Bavaria. His father was a sergeant in ...

in 1856. Run by a crew of 15, the ship was made of iron and was long, wide and deep. After his last submarine, ''

Brandtaucher ''Brandtaucher'' ( German for ''Fire-diver'') was a submersible designed by the Bavarian inventor and engineer Wilhelm Bauer and built by Schweffel & Howaldt in Kiel for Schleswig-Holstein's Flotilla (part of the '' Reichsflotte'') in 1850. ...

'' had sunk, Bauer included a diver's chamber in the design. Through this chamber, which worked like an

airlock An airlock is a room or compartment which permits passage between environments of differing atmospheric pressure or composition, while minimizing the changing of pressure or composition between the differing environments. An airlock consist ...

, divers could leave and enter the submerged vessel. He had tried to obtain support for his invention in several countries, including the

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Finally, in 1855, Bauer made a contract with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He built his submarine at the Leutemberg Works, and it was completed on 1 November. In May 1856 it was taken to

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

and testing began. The submarine made 133 successful diving runs. One such dive was undertaken in honor of the coronation of Alexander II on 6 September 1856, the

national anthem of Russia The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the " State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, ...

was performed while the submarine was underwater. During the 134th dive, the submarine got stuck on the ocean floor. The crew survived, and the ship was later retrieved by a salvage crew. Despite being cleaned up after this, nothing further happened with the submarine.

References

{{Reflist Submarines of the Imperial Russian Navy 19th-century submarines