[PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: Hunley ambient? and ballast and dive plane operation.

["Akins" <lakins1@tampabay.rr.com>]

Hi Forum.

 

It appears the site I thought was the official Hunley site, is not. But it is a good site too. I've gotten a bit of feedback from it and will post some of the replies. I need to e mail the official site now that I have the correct address and see what they say.

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Bill Akins.

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: George W. Penington

To: Akins

Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 7:28 AM

Subject: Re: Hunley ambient? and ballast and dive plane operation.

Dear Bill - Thanks for writing - I am going to post your letter in our club so that we can all discuss these interesting questions.  Feel free to join in we have alot of knowledgeable people, experts, engineers and rocket scientist and even a few trained monkeys. You will have access to some of the best websites around for information about the Hunley. My site by far is not the official Hunley site.  The official site is www.hunley.org  Thanks for your interest, hope you join us and stay in touch. George W. Penington  Webmaster and editor of the Hunley.com website and newsletter.  Club address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/csshlhunley/

----- Original Message -----

From: Akins

To: mistergwp@thehunley.com

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 11:21 AM

Subject: Hunley ambient? and ballast and dive plane operation.

Dear Webmaster for the official Hunley submarine site.

 

I am a personal submarine owner. I am also a member of Psubs.org, a personal submarine owner web site and forum.  We have been discussing the Hunley and trying to figure out how she worked.

 

I am interested in how the Hunley's ballast tanks worked as well as how she submerged.

 

Would you please tell me if my below description is correct and if it is not, would you please explain to me how it is wrong.

 

 

My information is that the Hunley had open top (bathtub style) ballast tanks that were open to the hull interior. My information is that the Hunley did not carry compressed air tanks.

 

From this I deduced that the Hunley had all her air from the surface trapped within her when she dove and could never lose any of that air.

 

This would make the Hunley like an upside down glass trying to submerge without losing any air. The only way the Hunley could submerge in my mind, would be for the Hunley to use her

 

forward motion and dive planes to force her underwater, is this correct?  Then once underwater the superior water pressure would force water into the opened valve of the open top ballast tanks and compress the atmosphere

 

in the Hunley. Wouldn't this make the Hunley an ambient submarine as opposed to being a 1 atmosphere submarine?

 

Then when the Hunley wanted to accend the crew would somehow utilize the compressed atmosphere (how did they do that?) and a pump, to pump the water out of the ballast tanks and then the

 

atmosphere in the Hunley would decompress and return to 1 atmosphere and she would accend. Is all the above of what I just wrote correct? Also, has anyone done an analysis of how stable or unstable the Hunley would be if she dropped

 

her keel weight to return to the surface, and were there any indications of that trying to be done inside the Hunley artifact?

 

I would appreciate if you could cover all the above questions and correct or confirm what I wrote so I can share them with my fellow personal submarine owners at Psubs.com

 

 

Thanks very much.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Akins.

 

 

 

 

---

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005