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Mystery of Civil War sub's sinking may be solved
The wreck of the Hunley was discovered in 1995, approximately 300 meters (984 ft) from the remains of the Housatonic, and was subsequently raised in 2000. The 40-ft (12-m) submarine was almost entirely intact, and the skeletons of all eight crew members were still located along a hand crank that was used to propel it. The men hadn't operated the bilge pumps or opened the topside air hatches, which doesn't seem to be in keeping with the theory that they died from drowning or suffocation. Instead, Lance thinks that they were killed by the shockwave from the explosion that sank the Housatonic.The Hunley didn't shoot out self-propelled torpedoes like a modern sub, but instead carried a copper keg of gunpowder on a 16-ft (4.9-m) pole out in front of itself. The idea was that it would ram ships with that keg, hitting them below the waterline. Unfortunately for the sub's crew, this placed them perilously close to the blast zone. Posted by: 3dc 2018-03-30 |
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