The First Successful Act of Submarine Warfare

H.L. Huntley

When was the first successful attack by a submarine? Some of you may guess World War I as this was when the submarine became part of the military arsenal; others might say World War II. You would be wrong. The first successful sinking of a ship by a submarine was during the American Civil War in 1864.

The submarine HL Huntley hit and sank the USS Housatonic. It approached the sixteen-gun sloop-of-war, silently carrying a torpedo packed with black powder. The Huntley rammed the Housatonic below the water line, detonating the bomb, tearing a hole in the Union ship's hull and sending it to the bottom of the sea with the five crew on board.

The submarine, named after its inventor, Horace Lawson Huntley, crept towards its prey, pushed an underwater torpedo into the hull and left the boat to sink. Later, a column of blue smoke was seen, signalling to the shore that the operation had succeeded. The Huntley then vanished entirely for 131 years.