The Weird Confederate Submarine Program

I've seen the real submarine in person on two or three occasions and it's impressive to see. Especially when you realize its feet would not be repeated until World War 1

Author — Railroad,Preserver,2000

"how can I use this to harm other people" will be my family motto

Author — André Gaveau

I'm surprised that you didn't mention the most recent recovery of the H.L. Hunley.

Author — Tank Acebo

it looks like something Team Rocket would built LOL

Author — John John

Very nice video! Really informative. But there's a tiny mistake at 3:34
CSS Pioneer never adopted a spar torpedo, she first utilized a system similar to that of Turtle with a screw and a charge, yet then adorned a torpedo which could be towed into an enemy vessel (which she used to sink 2 coal barges in tests)
The spar torpedo wasn't adopted by Hunley's team until their 3rd model, which was called the "fish boat" or the "porpoise" until Horace Hunley's death upon which the boat was named Hunley in his honor, this was because they had a few mishaps with the towable torpedo drifting dangerously close to their sub when it surfaced. In short, the spar torpedo wasn't adopted by the Hunley team until 1864, and Pioneer was only used in 1862.

Author — Corbin Moose

0:22 Was the addition of Grampus from TUGS (an anthropomorphized version of the real USS Grampus) at that timestamp intentional, or just a coincidence because 1922 was the year USS Grampus was sunk as a target by the US Navy.

Author — The4TierBridge

The reason why there are many conflicting reports about the H. L. Hunley has to do with the sporadic nature of the records themselves. Many of the records from the Confederacy were lost during the war or were hidden away, making it much harder to accurately determine what exactly went down.

To give you an example of how some of these records ended up disappearing, well over 140 years *after* the war, when the Virginia State Capitol building was being renovated, they ended up removing some of the flooring and found a confederate records book for the year 1863 tucked away in the floorboards for later retrieval that never ended up happening.

So, as a result of a lot of these records ending up destroyed or stashed away in someone’s wall or floorboard, the accounts we do have on certain programs is extremely limited.

This also isn’t exclusive to the H. L. Hunley either. For example, The first ever railway gun to be used in combat only has brief mentions on both sides without any exact designs available for it. We don’t even know exactly what happened to the railway gun after it’s usage during the battle of Savage’s Station.

Author — Matthew Chenault

This was a really interesting topic, thank you for sharing this story!

Author — ChickVicious237

You have the most interesting, educational and entertaining videos anywhere, sir! Very, very well done again! Thank-you for your work and research.

Author — William Rooth

You can see the original H.L Hunley today at its museum with the same name in Charleston, SC. I’m from the state and I know about the submarine because I learned about it during my year of state history. It’s really incredible how quickly submarine technology improved between the American Civil War and WWI in such a short amount of time.

Author — Sarah Stanfield

Clicked “like” before watching

Was not disappointed

This channel is sorely underrated

Author — Christopher Gardner

Good vid'.

One theory I recall from a tv documentary wasthat small arms fire from the Hunley's victim pierced the forward conning tower, resulting in the Sub' flooding whilst heading for home.

If true it would be an ironic fate; a bit like how HMS Invincible (1907) mortally damaged the German ship that sank her.

Author — Jim Taylor

I love your style. Keep up the awesome vids. You’re the man.

Author — Alexander Fort

"thank you for wasting the last 9 minutes of your life with me" sounds like a rather ominous threat.

Author — Jason Whitler

This is the best video on this subject I have seen so far. Well done. I have been following the story of the H.L. Hunley since it was rediscovered, but I learned a few new things from your video.

Author — Mellissa Dalby

Interesting that Clive Cussler were involved in her find and raise... rise again.

Author — Jakub Strumiłło

6:43 . The Confederate Navy was probably the smartest Confederate institution civilian or military . They never had faith in this, Hunley was a privateer and it was more the army’s pet project . Also Hunley was almost always rebuffed by confederate sailors when he was looking for volunteers . No one wanted to get anywhere near that metal death trap .

Author — Peter Pan

Not many boats can claim to have sunk 6 times

Author — Connor Johnson

@Nautical Study No information I have ever learned is known to be a waste of time until I pass away. So when I know I am close to moving on I plan to make a list of the most useless things. Things I did. Things I learned. And people I wasted too much time on. I just think it will be something cool to leave the family...and maybe even useful in some way.

Author — Bentboybbz

Good vid. You are correct that Wikipedia is intellectually challenged.

Author — John Arnold