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. Back to: Home / Submarine & Cold War History Copyright © 2000, The National Museum of American History |
|||||
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.
|
|||||