What Confederate submarine was the first submarine to sink a ship?

Answer 1

The 40-foot H.L. Hunley (often erroneously called CSS Hunley) in 1864. The Hunley is credited with the first successful sinking of an enemy ship by a submarine, after her successful attack on the Union sloop-of-war USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, which was participating in the Union blockade of Charleston.

During the US Civil War, cotton magnate Horace L. Hunley commissioned three Confederate designs by James McClintock. The first was the 20-foot Pioneer in 1862, followed by the larger "American Diver" in 1863, and a 40-foot, 9-man submarine later that year. After fatal accidents in Charleston harbor, Hunley himself commanded one mission, and drowned along with the entire crew.

The sub was raised, renamed H.L Hunley, and finally managed to sink the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864, while operating as a shallow "David" boat armed with a torpedo spar. The sub, however, sank for good shortly thereafter.

The main misconception about the Hunley was that it was commissioned in the Confederate States Navy as the CSS Hunley; this in fact was never the case, and historians even today fail to correct this mistake.

The CSN refused to accept submarines because of the danger to their crews and the dishonor of attacking without showing the flag. The Hunley made its attack under Confederate Army command, and except for one sailor, its crew was composed of Confederate Army soldiers. In any case, the Hunley was not nearly large enough to be a commissioned warship with a CSS designation.

Until she was raised in 2000, her fate remained a mystery for 136 years. She was long believed to have been sunk as a result of the explosion from her spar torpedo attack on the Housatonic, but this is now known to be incorrect. An exhaustive archives research effort revealed that she was known to have survived the attack, and to have signaled Confederate forces at her base on Sullivan's Island, reporting that she was returning after her successful attack on the Housatonic. The spar torpedo was also found to be of a wire detontation type and not a contact charge, designed to be implanted by impact into the hull of a surface vessel. The Hunley would then back away to a safe distance, paying out the wire as it went, then detonating the charge remotely.

During the restoration efforts, forensic examinations of the crew remains were made. The examinations revealed that her crew did not drown as believed, but that they died from a lack of oxygen. Evidence to help prove this was also the fact that the crew members were still found at their stations; a drowning scenario would likely have placed them all near the hatchways trying to escape.

Most of the crew members were eventually identified, and buried with full military honors.

Of particular note was the Hunley's commander, Lt. George E. Dixon, who piloted the Hunley and detonated the charge that sank the Housatonic. His family legend held that he was saved by a gold coin given to him by a girl before he went off to war. A bullet meant for him had struck the coin in his trousers at the thigh, absorbing most of the impact, saving his leg and likely his life, leaving a deep mark on the coin. When the Hunley was raised, a $20 gold coin was found near his remains, with the inscription "Shiloh April 6, 1862 My life Preserver G. E. D.".