Taps Coogan – November 7th, 2020

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The first submarine in the world to successfully sink another ship was the ill-fated H. L. Hunley, a hand cranked submarine built by the Confederate Navy during the US Civil War.

Just 25 years later, in 1888, French naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme built the world’s first ‘modern’ submarine, the Gymnote. In an almost unbelievably achievement for the era, it was the first electric battery powered submarine and the first armed with torpedoes. It also featured the first naval periscope and the first electric gyrocompass. Even more remarkable, it was photographed all the way back in 1889 and on many occasions subsequently (the deck was modified). Gymnote ran aground in 1907, sunk during repairs, and was sold for scrap.

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