The Submarine H. L. Hunley

English: Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley. Sepia wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1902, after a painting then held by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society Museum, Richmond, Virginia Deutsch: Illustration des U-Boots „Hunley“ von R. G. Skerrett, 1902. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The story of the Hunley begins in the winter of 1861/62 in New Orleans with two steam gauge manufacturers, James McClintock and Baxter Watson. At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had no navy and little money to build one. The Confederacy decided to use privateers as a way to put ships at sea to oppose the United States Navy. McClintock and Watson intended to build a submarine, apply for a Letter of Marque from the Confederacy, and attack United States shipping for profit. It was while building this first submarine, Pioneer, that Horace Hunley joined McClintock and Watson. On 31 March 1862, the men received a Letter…