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You raise valid points Ian. But if the Hunley
was not ambient, she could not technically be 1 atmosphere either, since any
compression of her atmosphere over 1 atmosphere of pressure would technically
make her not 1 atmosphere.
I am starting to wonder if the Hunley is actually
neither, but a hybrid of both, not falling technically into either catagory but
having attributes of both. Something I have never seen before.
I received another e mail from the Hunley
archaeologist Michael P. Scafuri as a follow
up to his first e mail. In it he said that they are not really sure how the
Hunley worked yet, and that further investigation may prove that she
was
slightly
buoyant and did have to use her forward motion and dive planes to submerge like
the later Holland did. This somewhat contradicted his first e mail and
further confuses the issue.
I wrote him
back again asking for a definite answer as to whether the Hunley was ambient,
not ambient, or some kind of hybrid. I also mentioned we would love to know if
she was always slightly positive buoyant as soon as he
and the
conservatory can determine that. So bottom line here is the best information we
have coming from the archaeology experts is that they are not sure of a lot of
things yet. I'm trying to find out for us all, but we may have to
wait
for more
investigation by them, or we may actually not ever know. Here's our latest
correspondence below. The first below one is my response to his original e
mail, the second one his lastest and second e mail to me, and the third one my
latest e mail
to him that I am waiting for a reply from him on.
I'll post his reply here as soon as I receive it. The mystery of the Hunley goes
on.
Kindest
regards,
Bill
Akins.
----- Original Message -----
From: Akins
To: Michael Scafuri
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: H.L. Hunley
Thank you very much Mr. Scafuri.
I posted your reply to the PSUBS.ORG forum where we
have been discussing the Hunley a lot. I know they will be glad to hear from
you.
I had thought that the Hunley was always slightly
positively buoyant like the later Holland submarine was and that she had to use
her dive planes to
force her under like the Holland did. >From your
reply it seems the Hunley was technically ambient but not always slightly
positive buoyant.
Thanks again for your reply clearing these
questions for me.
Kindest regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Scafuri
To: Akins
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:55 PM
Subject: Re: H.L. Hunley
I am glad to help. Please keep in mind though
that, at this point, we don't really know how the Hunley
performed, how seaworthy she was, exactly where her waterline was, etc. It
is still speculation for the most part - educated speculation but speculation
nonetheless. We might find out one day that yes, she did in fact
need her dive planes to submerge; I don't think so, but with such a unique
vessel almost anything could ultimately be true. The Hunley has
surprised us before.
Take care,
Mike Scafuri
Hi Mr. Scafuri.
Thanks again for your help and explainations.
I take from your most recent e mail that it is
actually unclear if the Hunley was always slightly positive buoyant like the
Holland submarine was. As you said you may find that the Hunley was only able to
submerge by using her forward motion and dive
planes to keep her under just like the Holland
submarine. I understand it will take a lot of time and research to acertain
exactly how she really worked.
One thing I hope you could clear up for me is
whether the Hunley was technically ambient or not. Was she ambient because her
atmosphere was slightly compressed due to the ballast tanks
being open to the hull interior? Or was she NOT
ambient because of what my fellow Psub.org member says here....."I still don't see any reason that the Hunley is
ambient. If it was ambient it couldn't
dive without
pressure compensation, this does not appear to the the case. Unless some piece
of information is missing, the Hunley is 1ATM. The crew were always
subjected to surface pressure (give or take the very small amount
of
pressure
increase from the ballast tanks venting into the cabin). Once submerged,
it doesn't matter what depth the Hunley is at, the crew will be under the same
pressure, if it was ambient, the pressure the crew would be experiencing
would
be the same as
the external water pressure. If somebody can supply me the internal volume of
the Hunley and the volume of water used to dive, I will calculate the internal
pressure after diving."
So Mike, could you please clear up for us whether
the Hunley was technically ambient or not? Was she some kind of a hybrid that
was neither totally ambient nor totally 1 atmosphere?
If that is the case then how do we catagorize what
the Hunley was?
I would also like to know if she was always
slightly positive buoyant (like the Holland) when that can be acertained finally
by you and the conservatory.
We have been discussing the Hunley ongoing for a
long time at our Psubs.org forum, and it would be nice to know how she really
worked.
Thanks again for taking the time to get back with
me.
Kindest regards,
Bill Akins. |