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The "turtle" was designed to have slight positive buoyancy which kept all but a few inches of the craft below sea level. By use of hand cranks to turn the propeller for movement and foot pedals to operate the tiller for steering the craft was intended to approach enemy ships at anchor, bore a hole in the hull of the target with an auger and attach a mine that would detonate after the "turtle" had made it's escape. In reality however, the propulsion mechanism proved to be exhausting to the operator and the hulls of the British warships were copper-clad which prevented boring into the hull to attach the mine. So to answer the question, the "turtle" ''didn't'' work, at least not successfully.

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14y ago

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