Late in the nineteenth century, after many years of experiment, John Holland produced the first practical submarine, his sixth boat, the Holland VI. Purchased by the U.S. Navy, it joined the fleet in 1900 as the USS Holland (SS-1).
With few exceptions,
U.S. submarines ever since have been numbered sequentially according to
when construction began. The number is attached to a letter code for the
type of submarine. The most common letter codes are SS for diesel-electric
submarine, SSN for nuclear-powered attack submarine (nicknamed "fast attack"),
and SSBN for nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (nicknamed "boomer").
Conrad Wise sketched the Hunley shortly after her recovery from an 1863 training accident that killed her entire crew. Courtesy Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA
This 1875 drawing
of David Bushnell's Turtle (1775) had several flaws, including
non-existent ballast tanks and a screw rather than a propeller. Courtesy
Naval Historical Center.
Copyright © 2000, The National Museum of American History