What year was the nautilus submarine invented?

Answer 1

It depends on which one you're referring to, as their have been 2 with the name Nautilus that were important during the evolution of submarine technology.

Robert Fulton's Nautilus

Robert Fulton's submarine Nautilus, designed between 1793-97, was the first practical working submarine design of record. It had a working ballast system, dove to 25 feet, and successfully attacked stationary targets. Most importantly, it returned to the surface without any deaths.

Living in France at the time, Fulton petitioned the French Government twice to fund his project, but was rejected. He later approached the French Minister of Marine to subsidize the construction, and was finally given permission in 1800. Though it had initially impressed the French during trials, the Nautilus suffered from leaks, which is the primary reason Fulton gave up. When Napoleon wanted to see it, he found that Fulton had already dismantled the Nautilus and destroyed many of its key components. Napoleon thought that Fulton was a charlatan, and the French Navy had no use for what they believed then to be a suicidal machine.

Even though Fulton's project didn't continue, the British, wanting to keep control over what appeared to them to be a potentially lethal device, brought Fulton to Britain to continue his submarine work. However, with Nelson's victory over the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, the French threat was eliminated, and Fulton was ignored until he finally left to return to America. His papers were left at the U.S. Consul in London, and went undiscovered until 1920. He never again worked on submarine designs, though his contributions to submarine development are still remembered and honored today.

Hyman G. Rickover, Nuclear Power, and the USS Nautilus (SSN-571)

Not until the advent of Nuclear Power and the vision of Naval Engineer Hyman G. Rickover (Admiral Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy"), did submarines become true submersibles.

Until that time, submarines were essentially designed as surface vessels that had a limited submerged operational capability, and were designed to run faster on the surface than underwater. Captured U-boats after WWII showed how far the Germans had advanced the art of submarine hull design and technology; while many of these innovations found their way into modern submarines, it was Rickover who realized that harnessing a nuclear reactor in a small design used to power submarines (and later ships) would give submarine warfare a significant technological boost. Unlike diesel-electric technology, nuclear power offers the advantage of huge power generation, which means better equipment (sensors, weapons, navigation, huge fresh water / air generating capacity, etc.), underwater speed (a major departure from previous designs) and virtually unlimited cruising range.

With Rickover's successful pressurized-water reactor design (still in use today) installed on the United States' (and the world's) first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571), nuclear power changed submarine technology and warfare from the limited role that it had in previous conflicts to the multiple mission threat it is today.