Submarine. The very word implies stealth and deadliness. Of all the conventional weapons used by the world's armed forces these days, none is more effective or dangerous than the nuclear attack submarine (SSN). Since its creation in the United States some forty years ago, the SSN has become the most feared weapon in the oceans of the world. The modern SSN is a stealth platform with 70 percent of the world's surface under which to hide, its endurance determined not by fuel but by the amount of food that may be crammed into the hull, and its operational limitations determined more by the skill of the commander and crew than by external factors.
Understanding the capabilities of the modern nuclear-powered attack submarine requires a certain sophistication on the part of both a potential adversary and a visitor. Visually, a submarine is the least impressive of physical artifacts. Its hull does not bristle with weapons and sensors as do surface warships, and for one to see its imposing bulk, it must be in drydock. On those rare moments when a submarine is visible, this most lethal of ships appears no more threatening than a huge sea turtle. Yet despite that, the true capabilities of the modern SSN are most easily understood in terms of myth or the modern equivalent, a science fiction movie. Here is a creature that, like Ridley Scott's "Alien," appears when it wishes, destroys what it wishes, and disappears immediately to strike again when it wishes. Defense against such a threat requires constant vigilance, and even then, this will be ineffective much of the time. Thus the real impact of the nuclear submarine is as much psychological as physical.
In April 1982, the Monday after Argentina's seizure of the Falkland Islands, I happened to have lunch with a submarine officer and so got my first hint of what an SSN could do. The Royal Navy, my friend told me, would very soon declare that one of its boats was in the area of the disputed rocks. No one would be able to dispute the claim, which, my friend went on, would probably be false. "But the only way you know for sure that a sub is out there is when ships start disappearing, and that's an expensive way to find out." This is precisely what happened, of course. The mere possibility that the Royal Navy had one or more of its superbly commanded SSNs in the area immediately forced Argentina to reevaluate its position, and the Argentinean Navy, a lead player in the decision to seize the islands, was soon rendered impotent by its inability to confirm, deny, or deal with the mere possibility that an SSN might be lurking in the area.
As a practical matter, the Falkland Islands War was determined at that point. Ownership of any island is determined by control of the seas around it, and Argentina could not control the sea. The Royal Navy's SSNs prevented that, the first step in the RN's campaign to establish its own sea-control posture, making a successful invasion possible. The sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano was the unnecessary confirmation of what should have been obvious. While the nuclear-powered attack submarine may not be the most useful warship in the world since it cannot perform every traditional navy mission, it can deny an adversary the ability to execute any mission at sea.
"Here be monsters," the charts of ancient mariners used to say. They weren't right then, but current charts, especially those on surface warships, might profitably be marked to show that outside the thirty-fathom curve, yes, there be monsters. Nuclear-powered monsters.
The Silent Service
Early History
When tracing the roots of the modern submarine, one is usually faced with a number of different places to start. Legend has it that Alexander the Great descended into the ocean in 332 B.C. near the city of Tyre, in a primitive diving bell. The great mind of Leonardo da Vinci is said to have created a primitive submersible boat of wooden frame design covered in goatskins, with oars providing propulsion through waterproof sweeps. A British contribution to early submarine concepts came in the late 1500s from William Bourne, a carpenter and gunmaker. It included the concept of double hull construction, as well as ballast and trim systems. The first concept for a military submarine came from a Dutch physicist, Cornelius van Drebbel. In addition to actually building and demonstrating a primitive submersible, he proposed a design specifically created to destroy other ships.
It was the United States (albeit still colonies in rebellion) that created the first workable military submarine design. In 1776, a Yale University student named David Bushnell designed the appropriately named Turtle. The Turtle was an egg-shaped submersible boat that had the ability to sneak up on a ship, submerge under the intended victim, bore a drill bit with a waterproof time bomb attached into the bottom of the hull, and escape before the bomb was detonated by a clockwork fuse. It was propelled by a hand-cranked screw, and had room for one overworked crewman.
On the night of September 6, 1776, Sergeant Ezra Lee of the Continental Army took the Turtle to attack HMS Eagle of the British squadron blockading Boston. But when he maneuvered underneath, he was unable to attach his bomb. During his escape, he was followed by British soldiers in a rowboat. Frantic, he released the bomb, which 2 exploded literally in the faces of his pursuers. Though all parties escaped unhurt, it was a promising start to the modern military submarine.
A more substantive advance was the Nautilus, designed by the American Robert Fulton, who would go on to design the first steam-boat. The Nautilus was a distinct improvement over the Turtle in that it cruised under the intended victim, towing the explosive bomb or torpedo, as it was then called, until the bomb contacted the target and detonated with a contact fuse. The design was an exceptional success, destroying a number of target vessels in test runs. The French, who were sufficiently impressed to award Fulton a contract, actually considered for a time using it in the planned invasion of Britain. By 1804 Fulton was demonstrating the boat to the British, who despised the idea for its underhanded nature and, more importantly, its potential to sweep British ships from coastal zones. In the end, Fulton returned to America to begin work on his steamboats.
It remained for the Americans to create a submarine that would actually sink an enemy vessel in wartime. In 1863 a submersible boat was designed by Confederate army officer Horace Hunley. His boat, the CSS H. L. Hunley, was propelled by eight men turning a hand-cranked propeller. For armament, an explosive mine or torpedo was secured to a long spar protruding out in front of the Hunley. The idea was for the Hunley to ram the spar torpedo into the side of a target ship, where it would be detonated.
Unfortunately the Hunley was difficult to handle, and several crews, along with her designer, were killed during test dives. Nevertheless on October 17, 1864, the Hunley attacked the Union steam corvette Housatonic in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. In the ensuing attack the Hunley sank the Housatonic, although she herself was also sunk. A submarine had finally drawn blood in combat.