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30 May 2024 — John Holland's Long Journey to Make his Submarine a Reality
There was once a schoolteacher in Ireland, whose pupils recalled that he “constructed a mechanical duck, resembling an ordinary duck, that could walk about in the garden and when put in water could swim, dive and come to the surface again. They said that he could keep them interested for hours at a time talking about and demonstrating mechanical things.” Doesn’t this just sound like the backstory of someone who would eventually become recognized as the “father of the submarine”?
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John P. Holland. Photo: PD | |
That man was John Holland, born 24 February 1841, second of four children born to John Sr. and Mary (Scanlan) Holland. Plagued by health issues and poor eyesight, young John Jr. abandoned hopes of becoming a merchant seaman and instead became a teacher affiliated with the Order of the Irish Christian Brothers, adopting the name Brother Philip. Accounts of his years with the Order indicate that he struggled with teaching rote subjects, but he excelled in the subjects of drawing, science, and music, “and that he could keep [students] interested for hours at a time talking about and demonstrating mechanical things.”
Holland was also eagerly following technological developments on the world stage, such as the Monitor demonstrating the potential of ironclads. Reflecting on the advances made to produce an ironclad ship, his train of thought progressed to defenses against military vessels, which led to the possibility of ships that could submerge. He told a newspaper reporter that that his thoughts turned to the idea of a submarine vessel around 1870:
At first I thought it absurd and impossible, but upon reflection, I determined that it was unfair to condemn a notion without sensible investigation. Accordingly I started to consider what physical difficulties stood in the way of the success of such an experiment. Naturally several suggested themselves to my mind. First was the difficulty of carrying sufficient air to support the life of those within a submerged boat, but it didn’t take me two minutes to convince myself that there was no obstacle on that point.
This next question was how to prevent the boat from sinking to the bottom when under water, and how to handle her when submerged in case sufficient power was available. I found the solution to these problems simple enough, because it was very plain that if the boat and its contents together could be made the same weight as an equal volume of water a very slight force would make it move in any direction, either up or down or horizontal, and therefore that the boat could be propelled by the ordinary propeller, and her motions in the vertical or horizontal planes be controlled in the ordinary way by rudders. There were practically no other difficulties in the way, the strength of shell to resist pressure of the water being a very simple one, indeed.
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News of USS Monitor’s exploits fed John Holland's fascination with advances in ship construction. PD | |
In 1873 Holland followed most of his family in emigrating to the United States. He resumed teaching, but his tinkering spirit wanted to see if he could really produce a submarine vessel. He approached people in the US Navy, but was turned down. He found backing in the US-based Irish independence movement Fenian Brotherhood, which was keenly interested in the idea of a submarine torpedo boat to use against British vessels.
The first completed craft was a claustrophobic fourteen and a half feet long and two and a half feet high, built in Paterson, New Jersey, at a cost of about $4,000 (roughly $120,000 today). The little boat was dropped into the Passaic River on 18 May 1878 and promptly sank. Thankfully, no one was inside. Holland adjusted his buoyancy calculations for far less salt water in the river at that point, made adjustments to the craft, jury-rigged a hose to deliver steam for propulsion from a hired launch when the prototype’s gasoline engine proved too damaged to function, and squeezed himself into the tiny cockpit for another run two weeks later.
Holland was able to submerge and control the craft underwater; it was enough of a proof of concept for the Fenian Brotherhood to fund another Holland-designed vessel for its “Saltwater Enterprise”—trying to develop means to damage British naval ships. The next craft, launched in May of 1881, was 31 feet long and housed a crew of three. With a 15 hp gasoline engine it could reach a speed of 8 or 9 miles per hour. The local press pieced together the source of Holland’s financial support and dubbed the new vessel the “Fenian Ram,” and the name stuck.
The inventor reported taking the vessel underway to about 45 feet. He continued to test and tweak the little sub, but a few of the Fenians, catching wind of a pending lawsuit within their ranks and afraid the vessel would be seized, spirited it away to New Haven, Connecticut, without informing Holland, who immediately severed all ties with the group.
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Design sketch of early Holland submarine vessel concept. PD | |
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In 1887 the US Navy Department decided to explore the idea of submarine vessels, announcing an open competition for the design of a sub that could meet certain specifications, including a speed of 15 knots on the surface/8 knots submerged, withstanding pressure at a depth of 150 feet, and maintain power for 2 hours submerged at 8 knots. Holland won the competition, but no contract was awarded because of irreconcilable disagreements between the Navy and Holland’s shipyard over performance guarantees.
Holland’s design won a second competition the following year, but due to governmental turnover the funds were diverted elsewhere and no contract was awarded. Holland secured the backing of lawyer Elihu B. Frost, who helped him incorporate his own company and secure multiple patents. Meanwhile, in 1893 he won a subsequent competition, and after delays due to appeals from other competitors, work began on the Plunger.
The process of building the sub was contentious; working drawings had to be approved by the Navy, and Navy officials reviewing the plans overrode the designer on issues such as replacing a gasoline engine with a steam plant and insisting on three screws instead of one. Convinced that the many design changes would doom Plunger to failure, Holland persuaded his board to allow him to build his own vessel, free of government meddling.
Construction of Holland VI got underway in 1895 at Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, NJ. The 53’ 10” submarine was powered by an Otto gasoline 45 hp engine on the surface and by a 50hp electric motor while submerged. She had a single 18-inch torpedo tube and could carry two reload torpedoes, as well as an upwardly inclined pneumatic gun.
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USS Holland at Holland Torpedo Boat Station in 1900. Located in the community of Hamlet in New Suffolk, New York. PD | |
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Holland VI made her debut surface run on 25 February 1898, and her first successful dive off Staten Island on 17 March. Informed of her performance during trials, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Secretary of the Navy John D. Long: “I think that the Holland submarine boat should be purchased. Evidently she has great possibilities in her for harbor defense.” Unimpressed, the Navy insisted that its own personnel put the sub through her paces, and made its own adjustments to the design. But finally on 11 April of 1900, the US government purchased Holland VI for the Navy, and she was commissioned the Holland that October. Today she is referred to as USS Holland (SS-1) to conform with the designation system in use now. Plunger, meanwhile, was never commissioned, although the name would be used for another vessel launched in 1903.
The submarine was used as a cadet training vessel and for gathering data on submarine operations. She served until 1910 and was then sold, although she remained on display until 1931 when she was finally broken up for scrap.
Extra Credit
Man Who Invented the Submarine - John P. Holland
No Deck to Strut Upon - John Phillip Holland US Navy Submarine
Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.
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