TURTLE SUBMARINE
The first American
submarine is as old as the United States itself.
David Bushnell, a Yale graduate, designed and built
the submarine in 1776 and named it Turtle. Turtle was the first American submarine. Her purpose was to break the British
naval blockade of New York harbor during the
American Revolution.
The one-man vessel
submerged by admitting water into the hull and
surfaced by pumping it out with a hand pump. The
submarine Turtle was powered by a hand-driven
propeller. The operator would submerge under the
target. Using a screw projecting from the top, he
would attach a clock-detonated explosive charge.
On the night of September 7,
1776, Turtle sumarine conducted an attack on the British ship
HMS Eagle. However, the boring device failed to
penetrate the target vessel's hull. It is likely
that the wooden hull was too hard to penetrate or
the boring device hit a bolt or iron brace. When
Turtle was shifted to another position beneath the
hull, it lost contact with the target vessel and
ultimately was forced to abandon the torpedo.
Although the torpedo was never attached to the
target, the clockwork timer detonated it about an
hour after it was released. The result was a
powerful explosion that forced the British to move
their ships further out in the harbor.
The submarine Turtle
gave Revolutionary Americans high hopes for a secret
weapon - a weapon that could destroy the British
warships anchored in New York Harbor.
This primarily wood Turtle submarine model
has the
thick wood shell which is very very difficult and
time consuming to curve into a perfectly smooth
surface, with uniform thickness around.
18" tall x 12" wide
$2,900 Shipping
and insurance in the US included.
Other countries, $300 flat rate.
Model is built per commission only. We require only a
small deposit (not full amount, not even half) to start
the process $500 The
remaining balance won't be due until the model is
completed, in
several months.
Learn more about the
Turtle submarine here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)
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