[PSUBS-MAILIST] War games (was: Introduction)

["Michael B. Holt" <mholt@richmond.edu>]

David Shultz wrote:
>
> I see it all now the Hunley and the Inteligent Whale lined up at the
> starting line...the shot is fired, the crews start to crank thier little
> hearts away.... the first to plant a (dummy) warhead to the target and
> return wins;)....

Bet on the Hunley.  The Intelligent Whale had to anchor under the
target and let the diver out to plant the mine.
 
> In junior high I too dreamed of building a copy of the Hunley. I really
> think manned powered subs would draw a crowd if a competition was held for
> them. I would like to see the Turtle, Fulton's Nautilus, the Hunley, Whilhem
> Bauer's boat to name a few.

I bet most of us thought about a cranked sub in junior high.  
Batteries were too expensive at Radio Shack, and car batteries
were totally outside or budget.
 
> I came across a union civil war submarine called the Aligator that was oar
> powered. She was built in 1863. She was later converted to a crank and
> propellor like the Hunley. She foundered before her first mission.

Read this one: "Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the 
Civil War," by Mark K. Ragan.  Mason City: Savas Publishing, 1999; 
distributed by Stackpole Books.  310 pages, many illustrations.  
ISBN1-882810-32-5

The Alligator gets a great deal of ink in Ragan's book.  It almost
made it.



Mike