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But first, a brief History Lesson:
1580
The first published prescription for a submarine came from the pen of
WILLIAM BOURNE, an English innkeeper and scientific dilettante. Bourne
first offered a lucid description of why a ship floats – by displacing
its weight of water -- and then described a mechanism by which:
"It is possible to make a Ship or Boate that may goe under the water
unto the bottome, and so to come up again at your pleasure. [If] Any
magnitude of body that is in the water . . . having alwaies but one
weight, may be made bigger or lesser, then it Shall swimme when you
would, and sinke when you list . . . ."
In other words, decrease the volume to make the boat heavier than the
weight of the water it displaces, and it will sink. Make it lighter,
by increasing the volume, and it will rise. He wrote of watertight
joints of leather, and a screw mechanism to wind the volume-changing
"thing" in and out. Bourne was describing a principle, not a plan for
a submarine, and offered no illustration.
1623
Dutchman CORNELIUS DREBBEL, hired in 1603 as "court inventor" for
James I of England, built what seems to have been the first working
submarine. According to accounts, some of which may have been written
by people who actually saw the submarine, it was a decked-over
rowboat, propelled by twelve oarsmen, which made a submerged journey
down the Thames River at a depth of about fifteen feet.
1634
French priest MARIN MERSENNE theorized that a submarine should be made
of copper, cylindrical in shape to better withstand pressure and with
pointed ends both for streamlining and to permit reversing course
without having to turn around.
You can read much more by visiting
this website |
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Our story starts in 1874, when an
Irish emigrant John Holland submitted a submarine design to the
Secretary of the Navy.
Holland was to play a significant part in the
English development of submarines, and by 1904, five British Hollands
were assigned to defend Portsmouth – and managed to "torpedo" four
warships. |
On a more sombre note: "A-1" – first of a brand-new British designed
class of improved Hollands was run over by an unwitting passenger
ship, and sank with the loss of all hands. "A-1" was salvaged and put
back in service. This craft is now pride of place in the Submarine
Museum.
In 1900, Britain was the only major maritime power not to have at
least an embryo submarine flotilla but, despite vehement condemnation
of the submarine as a means of waging war, those determined to find
out what all the fuss was about prevailed in the argument. Holland I
was launched in 1901 and the RN's Submarine Service was born.
HMS Dolphin, Fort Blockhouse Submarine School
The humble beginnings of the school appear
to go back to 1905, when rudimentary submarine training started in a
group of three huts at Fort Blockhouse. The Admiralty acquired Fort
Blockhouse from the Army in 1904 and it became the home for a
submarine flotilla from that date. The establishment name Dolphin came
from the 929 ton composite screwed sloop HMS Dolphin that was berthed
at Fort Blockhouse from 1906; this name lives on at Raleigh in Dolphin
Block and the trainee submariner division, Dolphin Squadron. The Royal
Naval Submarine School slowly evolved, becoming part of a independent
submarine command, HMS Dolphin, in 1912. Training moved on apace
following the success of the German World War 1 U Boat, which
demonstrated the devastating power of a trained, co-ordinated
submarine force |
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Featured Hotel |
Alverbank
Country Hotel |
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● Without doubt one of Gosport's best
hotels that successfully combines style and elegance with a very
relaxed atmosphere. |
Fun Facts |
The name Gosport is
said to have come either from God's Port or Gorse Port.
Gosport USA is in Indiana as well as New Hampshire
Gosport's Model Sailing Yacht Lake is one of only 2 in the UK for
International events. |
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