USS ''Alligator'', the fourth

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Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

ship of that name, is the first known U.S. Navy submarine, and was active during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

(the first American submarine was during the Revolutionary War, and was operated by the Continental Army, vice Navy, in 1776 against British vessels in New York harbor). During the Civil War the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...

would also build their own submarine, .

Construction

In the autumn of 1861, the Union Navy asked the firm of

Neafie & Levy Neafie, Levy & Co., commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shipbuilding and engineering firm that existed from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Described as United States, America's "first spe ...

to construct a small submersible ship designed by the French

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Brutus de Villeroi, who also acted as a supervisor during the first phase of the construction (de Villeroi had designed and built submarines in France and one after immigrating to the United States). The boat was about long, with a beam of and height of . "It was made of iron, with the upper part pierced for small circular plates of glass, for light, and in it were several water tight compartments". She was designed to carry 18 men. For propulsion, she was equipped with 16 hand-powered

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered w ...

s protruding from the sides. On 3 July 1862, the

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and Weapon, ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard currently serv ...

had the paddles replaced by a hand-cranked propeller, which improved its speed to about four

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

s. Air was supplied from the surface by two tubes with floats, connected to an air pump located inside the submarine; it was the first operational submarine to have an air purifying system. The boat had a forward airlock, and was the first operational submarine with the capability for a diver to leave and return while both remained submerged. Divers could affix mines to a target, then return and detonate them by connecting the mine's insulated copper wire to a battery inside the vessel. The Union Navy wanted such a vessel to counter the threat posed to its wooden-hulled blockaders by the former screw frigate ''Merrimack'' which, according to intelligence reports, the Norfolk Navy Yard was rebuilding as an ironclad

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

for the Confederacy (). The Union Navy's agreement with the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

shipbuilder specified that the submarine was to be finished in not more than 40 days; its keel was laid down almost immediately following the signing on 1 November 1861 of a contract for her construction. Nevertheless, the work proceeded so slowly that more than 180 days had elapsed when the novel craft finally was launched on 1 May 1862.

Operational history

Soon after her launching, she was towed to the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

to be fitted out and manned. Two weeks later, she was placed under command of a civilian, Mr. Samuel Eakins. On 13 June, the Navy formally accepted the boat. Next, the steam tug ''Fred Kopp'' was engaged to tow the submarine to Hampton Roads,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The two vessels got underway on 19 June and proceeded down the Delaware River to the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, through which they entered the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

for the last leg of the voyage, reaching Hampton Roads on the 23rd. At

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, the submarine was moored alongside the

sidewheel steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses we ...

, which was to act as her tender during her service with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. A spring 1862 newspaper report called the vessel ''Alligator'', in part because of its green color, a moniker which soon appeared in official correspondence. Several tasks were considered for the vessel: destroying a bridge across Swift Creek, a tributary of the Appomattox River; clearing away the obstructions in the James River at

Fort Darling Fort Darling (Drewry's Fort, Drewry's Bluff) was a Confederate military installation during the American Civil War located at Drewry's Bluff, a high point of 80–100 feet overlooking a bend in the James River south of Richmond in Chesterfield Co ...

, which had prevented Union gunboats from steaming upstream to support

General McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

's drive up the peninsula toward Richmond; and blowing up should that ironclad be completed on time and sent downstream to attack Union forces. Consequently, the submarine was sent up the James to City Point where she arrived on the 25th. Commander John Rodgers, the senior naval officer in that area, examined ''Alligator'' and reported that neither the James off

nor the Appomattox near the bridge was deep enough to permit the submarine to submerge completely. Moreover, he feared that while his theater of operation contained no targets accessible to the submarine, the Union gunboats under his command would be highly vulnerable to her attacks should ''Alligator'' fall into enemy hands. He therefore requested permission to send the submarine back to Hampton Roads. The ship headed downriver on the 29th and then was ordered to proceed to the

for more experimentation and testing. In August, Lt. Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr. was given command of ''Alligator'' and she was assigned a naval crew. The tests proved unsatisfactory, and Selfridge pronounced "the enterprise ... a failure". On 3 July 1862, the Navy Yard replaced ''Alligator''s oars with a hand-cranked screw propeller, thereby increasing her speed to about . President Lincoln observed the submarine in operation on 18 March 1863. About this time, Rear Admiral

Samuel Francis du Pont Samuel Francis Du Pont (September 27, 1803 – June 23, 1865) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family. In the Mexican–American War, Du Pont captured San Diego, and was made commander of the Ca ...

, who had become interested in the submarine while in command of the Philadelphia Navy Yard early in the war, decided that ''Alligator'' might be useful in carrying out his plans to take Charleston, South Carolina, the birthplace of secession. Acting Master John F. Winchester, who then commanded , was ordered to tow the submarine to

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort metropolitan area. Port Royal is home to Marine Cor ...

. The pair got underway on 31 March. The next day, both encountered bad weather which, on 2 April, forced ''Sumpter'' to cut ''Alligator'' adrift off

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shap ...

.Submarine Photo Index
/ref> She either immediately sank or drifted for a while before sinking, ending the career of the United States Navy's first submarine.

References

*Veit, Chuck, "The Innovative, Mysterious ''Alligator''" - ''Naval History'' magazine (August 2010), pp. 26–29 Attribution *

External links

navsource.org: USS ''Alligator''

NPR story
on the hunt for the ''USS Alligator''
NOAA search for the Alligator

Navy & Marine LHA history site on Alligator

Comprehensive site on world submarine history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alligator (1862) Ships built by Neafie and Levy Submarines of the United States Navy

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

19th-century submarines of the United States Lost submarines of the United States United States submarine accidents 1862 ships Maritime incidents in April 1863 Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Hand-cranked submarines

Construction

Operational history

See also

References

External links