I have always been an American history buff. I was aware that the first use of the Submarine during war was during the American Civil War. Since learning this fact, I had become, in a sense, amazed with submarines - thus, I have become rather interested in them. I found this paper as a good chance to learn more, a lot more, about early submarines and the evolution of them.With the ability to sink both large and small warships with the same percent chance, the value of the submarine is great because it was much cheaper to build than larger warships in the late 19th and early 20th century. The submarine has a way of concealing itself that is denied to the torpedo boat by submergence. However, the submarine is much slower, and when it does take advantage of it's means of concealment, it becomes even slower and really hinders it's ability to sink other ships. Ever since the American Civil War, naval engineers have been striving to solve the problem of submarine navigation, but until 1884 with very little success. In September of 1884, of the Swedish coast, the Prince of Wales, with the King and Queen of Denmark and the Czarina witnessed a successful trial of the new submarine, which had been built in Stockholm based on the plans of Mr. Nordenfelt, the inventor of the machine guns that which were commonly used in warfare in 1885. The Nordenfelt submarine was built of steel and was cigar shaped with a glass conning tower in the center, from which the skipper could keep a look out. There are three engines, one to work the screw in the stern, which propels the submarine, and two to work the propellers on either side, which, when in motion, allow the submarine to submerge and maintain a certain depth beneath the surface. When it wishes to submerge, enough sea water is taken in as to reduce the buoyancy enough so that just the tower is above the surface. The side propellers would then be set in motion, allowing the submarine to sin...
