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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. the purpose was to break the British
naval blockade of New York harbor during the
American Revolution.
Turtle was the first
submersible to use water as ballast for submerging
and raising the submarine. To maneuver under water,
Turtle was the first submersible to use a screw
propeller. Bushnell was also the first to equip a
submersible with a breathing device. Finally, the
weaponry of Turtle, which consisted of a “torpedo,”
or mine that could be attached to the hull of the
target ship, was innovative. Bushnell was the first
to demonstrate that gunpowder could be exploded
under water and his mine was the first “time bomb,”
allowing the operator of the Turtle to attach the
mine and then to retire a safe distance before it
detonated.
The one-man vessel
submerged by admitting water into the hull and
surfaced by pumping it out with a hand pump. The
most historically important innovation in the Turtle
submarine was the propeller, as it was the first
known use of one in a watercraft: it was described
as an "oar for rowing forward or backward", with "no
precedent" design. The operator would submerge under the
target. Using a screw projecting from the top, he
would attach a clock-detonated explosive charge.
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On the night of September 7,
1776, the Turtle submarine conducted an attack on the British
flagship
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.
Although it did not achieve military success, Turtle
was seen by men of the time as a revolutionary
development. In 1785, George Washington wrote Thomas
Jefferson: “I then thought, and still think, that it
was an effort of genius.” The problem with Turtle,
as the former head of the Naval Historical Center,
Admiral Ernest M. Eller wrote, was Bushnell’s
expectation that just one man could “carry out the
combined duties of diving officer, navigator,
torpedoman, and engineer, while at the same time
fighting tides and currents and propelling the boat
with his own muscles.”
The Turtle submarine's
ultimate fate is not known, although it is believed
that after the British took New York, the Turtle was
destroyed to prevent her from falling into enemy
hands.
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The photos above are of a Turtle
submarine model
(50" tall)
that was completed for a museum in
Kentucky in 2025. It is by far the most accurate
model ever built, with features described in the
original manuscript such as the turtle-shaped shells
and the screw propellers.
We are also building
an 18" tall model (without human figure)
$3,300 Shipping
and insurance in the US included.
Other countries, $200 flat rate. Will be completed in
summer 2025.
Reserve it now $500 
Learn more about the
Turtle submarine here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)
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