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St. Patricks Day and John Holland |
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Dr. Stan
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Sevierville, TN Status: Offline Points: 7455 |
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Posted: 19 Mar 2018 at 10:19am |
John P. Holland Submarines - Timeline
https://johnphollandsubmarines.com/timeline/ Holland's Fenian Ram, Patterson, NJ Holland's Plunger Edited by Dr. Stan - 19 Mar 2018 at 10:28am |
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It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.~Abe Lincoln
SS-393, SSBN-610(B), SSBN-624(G), SSN-591 USSVI Life Member; Holland Club; Plank Owner, Smoky Mtn. Base |
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Rontini599
Admin Group Joined: 23 Aug 2016 Location: Sheridan, WY Status: Offline Points: 704 |
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When
the great submarine contest of 1893 began in the United States, John P.
Holland was already a who’s who amongst Washington bureaucracy. The
Irish born schoolteacher had already submitted two designs to the US
Navy that were rejected before construction could begin. A month before
the competition, a lawyer provided Holland with the capital needed to
form his own company, giving him a leg up over the other competitors.
Holland, as we all know, would go on to win the submarine contest and
the Holland submarine would become the first official U.S. Navy
submarine. However, who was John P. Holland and how he becomes the
favorite of those running in the competition.
Holland was born in Ireland in 1840. He would become a schoolteacher and taught in Ireland until his emigration to the United States in 1873. While teaching in Ireland, Holland studied the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac during the American civil war. Holland realized that the best way to take down such ironclads would be from underneath the vessels, and so Holland’s interests in submarines began. Once he moved to New Jersey, Holland began to design his version of a submarine, which was funded by the Irish Fenian Brotherhood. The Irish Fenian Brotherhood was a group in the United States that brought together Irish immigrants to fight for Ireland’s independence from Britain. They hoped that Holland could design a submarine that would help win that independence for Ireland. His first design was one man-operated vessel and was 14 feet, 8 inches long and three feet wide. It could displace 2.5 tons. While Holland considered his first attempt a failure, the brotherhood found it promising enough to fund the second design. The new submarine, nicknamed the Fenian Ram. It was 31 feet long, nine feet wide and displaced 19 tons. During its first dive, the vessel reached 14 feet. On the second day, the submarine remained submerged for 2.5 hours. What made Holland’s designs unique was the use of water ballasts to submerge the vessel and horizontal rudders to dive. During further tests, the submarine reached depths of 45 feet. The submarine propelled by a 20-horsepower gasoline engine used an electric motor to recharge the vessel's battery. By 1883, the Fenians, upset over escalating costs stole the design forcing Holland to break ties with the Brotherhood. Once the brotherhood had possession of the vessel, they realized they knew nothing about its operation. Of course, Holland refused to help. The Fenian Ram would never be used in battle and would sit in New Haven Connecticut until its engine was removed to a brass foundry. Eventually, the craft ended up back in Holland’s adopted hometown of Patterson, NJ where it can still be visited today.
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