One of the renovations included a 1 + 1⁄ 2-inch-diameter (40 mm) glass in the dome, whose light he found sufficient for reading a watch, making candles during daylight activities unnecessary. Adding a copper "bomb" (globe) containing 200 ft 3 (5.7m 3) of air extended the time underwater for the crew for at least four and a half hours. With his three crewmen and two candles burning he remained for an hour without difficulty. On July 3, 1801, at Le Havre, Fulton took the revised Nautilus down to the then-remarkable depth of 25 feet (7.5 m). Through friends like Gaspard Monge and Pierre-Simon Laplace, Fulton obtained an interview with Napoleon, but was unable to garner support for his vessel however, Fulton's friends pushed the Minister of Marine into appointing a scholarly panel, to consist of Volney, Monge, and Laplace, to assess the submarine. During this time he changed the screw propeller to one with four vanes, like a windmill, and modified the rudder. Nautilus covered the 360 ft (110 m) course two minutes faster than the rowing crew. He also tested the speed of his two men cranking against that of two men rowing on the surface. He tested endurance with a candle lit, and found the flame did not challenge the air capacity of the snorkel. These tests were all successful, but the river current interfered with some tests, so Fulton took the boat to Le Havre to work in the quiet salt water of the harbor. Nautilus' first test dives were in the Seine at Rouen, in the Saint-Gervais dock, beginning July 29, 1800. : 37 : 42 Commemorative plaque in the Port of Rouen Contact with the hull triggered a gunlock mechanism. These "carcasses" were variously sized copper cylinders carrying between ten and two hundred pounds of gunpowder. When the long line had paid out, the mine would strike the target hull and explode by a detonator. The submarine then released its mine on a line that went through the eye. A device on the top of the dome drove a spiked eye into the enemy's wooden hull. Nautilus was designed from the start to carry what Fulton called a "carcass", a naval mine intended to be dragged into contact with an enemy ship. Air, beyond that enclosed within the vessel, could be provided by a snorkel constructed of waterproofed leather. When surfaced, a fan-shaped collapsible sail, reminiscent of those popular on Chinese ships, could be deployed. The design included an observation dome, somewhat similar in appearance, if not function, to the conning tower of later submarines. Overall, Nautilus resembled a modern research submarine, such as the NR-1, having a long teardrop hull. Two horizontal fins, diving planes in modern terms, on the stubby horizontal rudder controlled angle of dive. ![]() The hollow iron keel was the vessel's ballast tank, flooded and emptied to change buoyancy. Propulsion was provided by a hand-cranked screw propeller. : 37 Construction įulton built the first Nautilus of copper sheets over iron ribs at the Perrier boatyard in Rouen. Fulton directed his next proposal to the Minister of Marine, who granted him permission to build. His second, also unsuccessful, proposal to them was that he be paid nothing until Nautilus had actually sunk merchant shipping, and then only a small percentage of the prize money. ![]() He unsuccessfully proposed to the Directory that they subsidize its construction as a means to ensure French naval dominance. Nautilus was designed between 17 : 36 by the American inventor Robert Fulton, then living in the French First Republic. Though preceded by Cornelis Drebbel's vessel of 1620 and the Turtle, : 1–8 Nautilus is often considered to be the first practical submarine. Nautilus was a submarine designed by Robert Fulton and first tested in 1800. Hand-cranked screw propeller or Sail (when surfaced) Full-sized section model at Cité de la Mer, Cherbourg, France
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