Under Water, Out of Sight...

Subversive Submarines…

During, and just after the Iraq war, great play was made of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ (which were never found incidentally).   It may come as more than a surprise that the American Civil War was not immune or that the forerunners of the Irish Republican Army (the IRA) were somehow involved.   They planned to build the first submarine, carry it upon a merchant vessel, launch it and sink one or more ships of the British Navy.

It is true of course and the submarine was in fact built but never used.

It all started when John Philip Holland was born in Liscannor, County Clare on 29th February 1840 and became a teacher – a Christian Brother at one stage. He emigrated to America in 1873 and continued his teaching. He was one of four brothers and was part of a Gaelic speaking family. He did not learn English properly until he started school. He and his brother Michael were both active in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) – the forerunners of the IRA.

He was a schoolmaster in Cork when the American Civil War was in progress. He followed the newspaper reports with a keen interest. He paid particular attention to the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac (two marine craft) on 9th March 1862.

These were two iron clan ships, one on either side of the Civil War, which had most of their hulls and decks below the waterline. He noted the havoc that they inflicted on ‘ordinary’ wooden ships of the time. It convinced him that wooden ships of war were a thing of the past. Not only that, but he also began to play with the idea of a totally submerged ‘submersible’.

He fully realised that England, with all her power, would quickly follow suit and create similar havoc on the other navies of the world. He began to take an even more active interest in engineering and also began playing with the idea of controlled flight. It was while he was still in the Christian Brothers teaching that he began to design his first ‘submarine’.

He made numerous mechanical contraptions at the school and kept his classes fully engaged with his unauthorised lessons on engineering, flight and submarines. Years later many of his pupils spoke of him with the highest regard and respect………

He was due to take his final vows at Christmas 1872 but when his mother and brother left Ireland for America earlier that year, he decided to leave his vocation and follow them.  He sailed via Liverpool on 26th May 1873.

After a fall on an icy street in Boston he was confined to his rooms where he began to seriously consider the problems of submarine navigation. He tore up all his previous designs and started again from scratch. He was surprised that his basic designs had not changed from his original plans, which he had produced in 1869. He once again joined the teaching profession in Paterson, New Jersey.

In 1876 John’s brother Michael introduced him to members of the Irish Fenian Brotherhood. They had sufficient funds to finance strikes against the English who were still ruling Ireland. It was with them that he agreed, after convincing them of his capabilities, to build his first three submarines.

He called the final one ‘The Fenian Ram’ but after disagreements among the leadership over the use of the ‘skirmishing fund’ money, they stole the submarine and a 16-foot model in November 1883. The Fenian Ram had limited success on a test run. John broke up with the Fenian Brotherhood and never had anything further to do with them after that.

They had an audacious plan to conceal the submarine on a large merchant ship, sail close to some English warships, release it from the bottom of the merchant ship and attack the English vessels. Although daring to the extreme, and highly dangerous, with a little more testing, it is most likely that the plan would have worked.  (A touch of the James Bond springs to mind).

Several other engineers were very interested in the principle of submarines and in fact many were built by different companies.   John joined one of these which had connections with the US Army.

Things were now beginning to warm up with the Army and Navy and other foreign powers became greatly interested in submarines and the rush to have the first truly serviceable fleet.

In 1888, the US Navy Department announced an open competition for its first true submarine with stringent specifications. Against fierce competition, both in the US and abroad, John Holland won hands down. However, no contract was awarded.  As a result, John lost interest for a while and returned to the principal of powered flight.

On 3rd March 1893 Congress set aside $200,000 to cover another competition for a submarine and shortly after John joined a company owned by Elihu B. Frost. He was paid $50 per month as General Manager. John Holland again won the competition but the Navy Board decided to give further examination to another entry, that of George Baker. This was in fact built in 1891 and trialed in 1892.

John continued with his venture and began building the ‘Plunger’ to the Navy’s specifications. He was becoming frustrated with the Navy as there were many delays and changes. By autumn of 1896 he realised that it was going to be a failure. Instead of continuing, he received permission from his company to build the Holland V1 as a private venture – free from interference from the Navy.

The submarine was built at Nixon’s Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey in spring 1897 and was launched on 17th May 1897. He learned a great deal during the trials and began planning improvements for the Holland V11. He forwarded his drawings, specifications and plans to the Navy in November 1899.

Suddenly, when everything seemed perfect, John Holland began discussions with the Netherlands Navy about building submarines of his designs in Europe.

His American company and indeed the US Navy were totally against losing John Holland’s designs. Needless to say, litigation followed. The result was in fact satisfactory for him as the company gave him a new contract. Some of the terms were that he would be consulting engineer for five years at a yearly salary of $10,000. In exchange he would have to sign over all his current and future submarine patents to the company. For that he was given 500 shares with a market value of £35,000.

On 7th June 1900, the Appropriations Committee for the Navy provided for the company to build five Holland submarines under the supervision of a Naval Constructor Lawrence Spear. Spear had no experience with submarines and he and Holland argued constantly.

When Spear was poached by the company from the Navy and made Vice-president, John Holland had had enough. He resigned on 28th March 1904, at the age of 63 years.

In his private capacity he designed a submarine capable of 22 knots but when he presented the details to the Navy they declined his offer as they considered the speed far too dangerous and that 6 knots was the safest speed.

When his old company heard of his plans, once again litigation followed. Basically they asked that he be barred from designing, planning, building or in fact having anything to do with submarines, boats or ships. Holland lost but appealed. He claimed that the company was trying ‘to prevent him from using his brains and inventive talent in building submarines for the balance of his life’. Notwithstanding his sound argument, (albeit that he had in fact signed a contract to that effect earlier), his backers deserted him and the company’s lawsuit had its desired effect.

John Holland withdrew from public life and resumed his work on aircraft. Aviation experts who have examined his designs and plans state that they would have worked but he was beaten by the Wright Brothers and abandoned his research.

On 12th August 1914, he caught pneumonia at the age of 73 years and died.

‘Forty days later, the German Navy’s U-boat 9 torpedoed three British cruisers off the Dutch coast. A submarine of four hundred and fifty tons, manned by twenty-six men had sunk thirty-six thousand tons of the enemy’s ships and had sent fourteen hundred men to their death in the North Sea’.

So what did I say at the beginning about ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’? Old John Holland and the forerunners of the IRA were many years ahead of their time.

Irish ingenuity I ask you ……………………….

-----------------Mike---------------