Sinking Of USS Housatonic
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Sinking of USS ''Housatonic'' on 17 February 1864 during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
was an important turning point in
naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. The Military, armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be ...
. The
Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised eleven U.S. states th ...
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
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 ...
, made her first and only attack on a Union
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
warship when she staged a clandestine night attack on in Charleston harbor. ''H.L. Hunley'' approached just under the surface, avoiding detection until the last moments, then embedded and remotely detonated a
spar torpedo A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at ...
that rapidly sank the
sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...
with the loss of five Union sailors. ''H.L. Hunley'' became renowned as the first submarine to successfully sink an enemy vessel in combat, and was the direct progenitor of what would eventually become international
submarine warfare Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, Naval mine, mine warfare and Naval mine, mine countermeasures. Submarine warfare consists primarily of Diesel engine, diesel and nu ...
, although the victory was
Pyrrhic A pyrrhic (; ''pyrrichios'', from πυρρίχη ''pyrrichē'') is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of two unaccented, short syllables. It is also known as a dibrach. In classical Greek poetry Although the pyrrhic by itsel ...
and short-lived, since the submarine did not survive the attack and was lost with all eight Confederate crewmen.


Sinking

On the evening of 17 February 1864, made her first mission against an enemy vessel during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Armed with a
spar torpedo A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at ...
, mounted to a rod extending out from her bow, ''H.L. Hunley''s mission was to lift the
blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...
of
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
by destroying the
sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...
USS ''Housatonic'' in
Charleston Harbor The Charleston Harbor is an inlet (8 sq mi/20.7 km2) of the Atlantic Ocean at Charleston, South Carolina. The inlet is formed by the junction of Ashley River (South Carolina), Ashley and Cooper River (South Carolina), Cooper rivers at . Morr ...
. ''Housatonic'' was a vessel with an armament of twelve large
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
s, stationed at the entrance of Charleston Harbor roughly off the coast. ''Housatonic'' was commanded by Captain Charles W. Pickering and had a crew of 150 men. ''H.L. Hunley'' began her approach at about 8:45 pm, commanded by First Lieutenant George E. Dixon and crewed by seven volunteers. Accounts differ about the initial approach; what is known is that ''H.L. Hunley'' was spotted just before embedding her torpedo into ''Housatonic''s hull. Official accounts say ''Housatonic'' was unable to fire a broadside at ''H.L. Hunley'', and only hit her with small arms fire. ''H.L. Hunley'' attached her explosive to ''Housatonic''s side before reversing and setting a course for home. A few moments later the torpedo detonated and sank the sloop-of-war. First-hand reports say no explosion was heard by the crew of ''Housatonic'', who immediately began climbing the rigging or entering life boats as the sloop began to sink stern first and list to port. Within five minutes, ''Housatonic'' was partially underwater. ''H.L. Hunley'' thus achieved the first sinking of a warship in combat via submarine.


Aftermath

Five men – two officers and three crewmen – went down with their ship while an unknown number of Union Navy sailors were injured. The survivors were later rescued by other elements of the Charleston blockading force. The first ship on the scene was . ''H.L. Hunley'' won her first victory, but was lost at sea the same night while returning home to Sullivan's Island. It was originally thought that ''H.L. Hunley'' was sunk as the result of her own torpedo exploding, but some claim that she survived as long as an hour after destroying ''Housatonic''. Support for the argument of ''H.L. Hunley''s brief survival is a report by the commander of
Fort Moultrie Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan, built of Cabbage Pal ...
on Sullivan's Island that prearranged signals from the sub were observed, and answered; he did not say what the signal was. Further support comes from the testimony of a lookout on the sunken ''Housatonic'', who reported seeing a "blue light" from his perch in the sunken ship's rigging. There was also a post-war claim that two "blue lights" were the prearranged signal between the sub and Fort Moultrie. "Blue light" at the time of the Civil War was a pyrotechnic signal in long use by the US Navy. Modern claims in published literature on ''H.L. Hunley'' have repeatedly and mistakenly been that the "blue light" was a blue lantern, when in fact no blue lantern was found on the recovered ''H.L. Hunley'', and period dictionaries and military manuals confirm the 1864 use and meaning of "blue light." This was the last time ''H.L. Hunley'' was heard from, until her recovery from the waters off Charleston, South Carolina. While returning to her naval station ''H.L. Hunley'' sank for unknown reasons. However, a team of historians managed to examine the submarine's remains, and theorized that a crewman on ''Housatonic'' was able to fire a rifle round into one of ''H.L. Hunley''s viewing ports. A film entitled '' The Hunley'' was made about the story of H.L. Hunley and the sinking of the submarine ''H.L. Hunley''. New evidence announced by archaeologists in 2013 indicates that ''H.L. Hunley'' was less than away from the point of detonation – much closer than previously realized – and thus the explosion probably damaged the submarine as well as its target, although it was impossible to tell at the time due to
concretion A concretion is a hard and compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes a ...
covering the hull.Brian Hicks
Hunley legend altered by new discovery
''The Post and Courier'', 28 January 2013, accessed 28 January 2013.
Later studies showed that the crew was probably instantly killed through
blast injury A blast injury is a complex type of physical trauma resulting from direct or indirect exposure to an explosion. Blast injuries occur with the detonation of high-order explosives as well as the deflagration of low order explosives. These injuri ...
caused by the close proximity of the torpedo, though this remains disputed.


See also

* * ''SS Georgia'' (1890), later named SS ''Housatonic'' and sunk in 1917 by a German U-boat


References


External links

* * ''Shipwrecks of the Civil War : Charleston, South Carolina, 1861–1865'' map by E. Lee Spence (Sullivan's Island, S.C., 1984
OCLC 11214217
*

* * Trip Atlas, "Events of 1970" * Cover Story: Time Capsule From The Sea – ''U.S. News & World Report'', 2–9 July 2007
Official Record of the Union and Confederate Navies during the War of the Rebellion Series I Volume 15 see page p.328 for List of USS ''Housatonic'' fatalities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Housatonic, Sinking of USS Housatonic Naval battles of the American Civil War Battles involving the United States Confederate victories of the American Civil War Charleston County, South Carolina Battles of the Lower Seaboard Theater and Gulf Approach of the American Civil War 1864 in South Carolina Battles of the American Civil War in South Carolina February 1864