Lost In History

 

1. Well done. How do you find these out of the way stories?  I don’t even see these in the papers. Is this actually for real, or one of the funny Drew Gotchas?  No, don’t think so.
   Looks real. Amazing. Good grief. 1864?

   Posted by peiper       03/05/2014  at  03:47 AM  



2. Just following random links sometimes leads you to the most unusual things.
   Yes, it was real. Google up “wooden submarine Barcelona” you’ll find hundreds of pictures of the thing. Could it actually go down 500 meters? We’ll never know, unless some geek does some impressive computer modeling. No reason that it couldn’t, save the ultimate compressive strength of the wood. And wood is quite good at compression.

   This sub was quite modern in design, but it didn’t have bow planes, or elevons of any kind. No wings! Changing the up or down angle relied on precisely shifting the point of balance by internal weights. One downside to that kind of design means you couldn’t even move around inside. Another is that driving the boat up or down would be a challenge. The propeller was extremely primitive too, so the top speed was probably only 1 - 3 knots. Still, this one is just as old as the Hunley, and a far more advanced design.

   Posted by Drew458       03/05/2014  at  10:55 AM  

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