February 17, 1864: we are in the middle of the Civil War, and the submarine CSS Hunleychartered by Confederate troops, advances near the port of Charleston, on the Atlantic coast, to sink an enemy ship. With his experimental torpedo boom, he managed to charge and explode theUSS Housatonicled by the Unionists: it is a technical feat, and the first time that a combat submarine manages to sink a warship… but the submersible itself sinks a few moments later.
For almost a hundred years, the H.L. Hunley languishing on the seabed, with its entire crew on board. In 1995, an operation led by underwater archaeologist Ralph Wilbanks made it possible to locate the wreck, which still had to wait five years before being brought to the surface: the remains of the eight men of the crew at the time were, curiously, found in their place, as if each had kept their post rather than trying to flee towards the exit.
Clean puffs
This unusual configuration fuels various speculations about the incredible bravery of the Confederate soldiers, while tributes are paid to them posthumously. It was not until 2017 that researchers from Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, having conducted a study on the wreck, announced that they had solved the mystery. According to them, the soldiers of H.L. Hunley would have simply been killed instantly, by the same weapon they had used to sink the enemy ship.
In fact, the torpedo used, containing an explosive charge of 61 kilograms attached to a mast located five meters from the bow of the submarine, was not intended to be launched remotely, but rather to be used as a sort of explosive ram, summarizes Popular Mechanics. Rudimentary, dangerous, and obviously a bit too effective.
The secondary shock wave generated by the torpedo explosion would have been enough to cause deformation of the submarine’s hull. The men on board did not have time to move or flee. The wave would have caused lung trauma, as shown by the modeling work of biomedical engineering researcher Rachel Lance: with such magnitude, the crew’s chances of survival were less than 16%.
The subject, which had become politically sensitive, provoked a cabal of pro-Confederates against the researcher, aiming to discredit her work which called into question the fable of the heroism of southern soldiers. We are never disappointed by the United States…
