PSM V58 D178 Cross section of the argonaut amidships

''Argonaut'' was a class of

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

s built by engineer

Simon Lake Simon Lake (September 4, 1866 – June 23, 1945) was a Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines f ...

. When used without clarification ''Argonaut'' generally refers to the second-built and larger submarine launched in 1900 at

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. She was long, cigar shaped and built of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

. She had a White and Middleton gas engine and

propeller A propeller (colloquially 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 ...

dynamo file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

, and pumps for air and water. Her main attribute like that of the older sibling and predecessor (1894); was a wet

diving chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...

that allowed a diver to leave and re-enter the submarine. ''Argonaut No 1'', and ''Argonaut No 2'' are used as the name of this vessel. ''Argonaut No 1'' was built in 1897 and is in length. In September 1898 it made an open-ocean passage from Norfolk, Virginia, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, becoming the first submarine to operate successfully in the open sea. ''Argonaut No 2'' was a reconstruction of ''Argonaut No 1'' finishing in 1900 with a length of and significantly different profile.

References

Further reading