Early American Submarines. The idea of approaching an enemy ship unobserved beneath the water's surface and attacking from below has a long history. Submarine & Cold War History: Submarines Before Nuclear Power
After the <i>Holland</i>. Only when World War I broke out in Europe did Americans realize how far behind they had fallen in submarine design.


American attempts to develop underwater boats achieved some success during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Unfortunately, such boats usually proved more dangerous to their crews than their targets. Only in the 1890s did John Holland and Simon Lake develop practical submersible boats. The U.S. Navy purchased its first submarine from Holland on 11 April 1900, the traditional birthday of the U.S. Submarine Force.

Quickly adopted by nations throughout the world, improved submarines influenced the course of both world wars, though they remained essentially surface ships able to hide only temporarily under water. During World War II, the U.S. force of large, fast, long-range fleet submarines played a major role in winning the Pacific war by sinking so much Japanese shipping.

In the ten years after the war, a series of technological innovations, culminating in nuclear propulsion, transformed the submarine into a true underwater boat, faster beneath the surface than above and able to remain submerged indefinitely.

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Submarines in World War II. During the Second World War, submarines comprised less than 2 percent of the U.S. Navy, but sank over 30 percent of Japan's navy, including eight aircraft carriers.
The Submarine Revolution. Between 1945 and 1955, the submarine was transformed from a fast surface ship that could hide briefly underwater into a true udnerwater boat, able to move and fight for weeks on end withoug ever surfacing.

American attempts to develop underwater boats achieved some success during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Unfortunately, such boats usually proved more dangerous to their crews than their targets. Only in the 1890s did John Holland and Simon Lake develop practical submersible boats. The U.S. Navy purchased its first submarine from Holland on 11 April 1900, the traditional birthday of the U.S. Submarine Force.

Quickly adopted by nations throughout the world, improved submarines influenced the course of both world wars, though they remained essentially surface ships able to hide only temporarily under water. During World War II, the U.S. force of large, fast, long-range fleet submarines played a major role in winning the Pacific war by sinking so much Japanese shipping.

In the ten years after the war, a series of technological innovations, culminating in nuclear propulsion, transformed the submarine into a true underwater boat, faster beneath the surface than above and able to remain submerged indefinitely.