What was the maximum depth of the CSS HL Hunley?
Jul.08, 2008 in
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4 Comments on “What was the maximum depth of the CSS HL Hunley?”
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July 12th, 2008 at 12:11 am
I can’t find the answer anywhere sorry. (i’ll keep looking)
But one thing i will add, (in case you are writing a report on it or something), Although it is commonly known as CSS HL Hunly, it was never officially commissioned so it shouldn’t have CSS in front of its name.
July 12th, 2008 at 5:55 am
From reading the descriptions, it couldn’t have gone underwater for many feet because it had no method of air exchange or visual observation when submerged. It was designed to mostly operate with the command tower windows just above water level with air taken from the top of the hatch. Since depth is measured (today) to the keel to indicate the deepest point, add 5-10 feet to the height of the boat.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:42 am
It’s doubtful the crush depth would have been more than 4 fathoms or 24 feet. It was only designed to be submerged enough to stick it’s ram into a Union ship and the hull was basically just boilerplate steel.
When the famous sinking experiment was done, with it tied to a dock, the water depth was only about 24 feet.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Considering that the H L Hunley was seized from it’s private owners and pressed into service without ever being completely tested, the only accurate answer to this question is that the H L Hunley dove all the way to the bottom. 3 times.
Since this vessel was never designed to go very deep for very long, it probably wasn’t going to be tested for depth anyway. It was originally designed to float on the surface until it came near a ship and then dive deep enough to reach the other side, while towing a “Torpedo”. Fear that this tow rope would tangle in its own screw or somehow strike the sub caused the CSA Navy to use a different type of torpedo which ultimately was the Hunleys downfall, causing the H L Hunley to determine its own maximum depth.