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The scientist who cracked the 150-year-old mystery of the the sinking of the H.L. Hunley Confederate submarine has revealed the painstaking steps she took to demonstrate what killed its eight-man crew. Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer and blast-injury specialist, describes her breakthrough in the forthcoming book In the Waves: My Quest to Solve The Mystery of A Civil War Submarine, due out April 7. The Hunley was the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship, but as soon as it succeeded in its mission targeting the USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor in 1864, it mysteriously sank with all hands...

The first submarine to down an enemy ship was sunk itself after its crew failed to release an emergency weight to help it resurface. Crew aboard the Confederate vessel HL Hunley did not disconnect the 1,000lb keel blocks to help it rapidly resurface, resulting in the sub being trapped underwater and the men dying from lack of oxygen. Scientists who removed the corrosion, silt and shells from the boat found the levers all locked in their regular position, solving a mystery dating back to 1864. The blocks would typically keep the sub upright, but also could be released with three...

Researchers say they’ve solved one of the most enduring mysteries of the American Civil War: what caused the puzzling demise of the H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The Confederate craft famously disappeared with all its crew on 17 February 1864, just after destroying the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbour. The Hunley’s wreck was not found until 1995. When it was raised from the seabed in 2000, the skeletons of its eight-man crew were still at their stations, with no evidence of escape attempts.

The first combat submarine to sink an enemy ship also instantly killed its own eight-man crew with the powerful explosive torpedo it carried, new research has found. The HL Hunley fought for the confederacy in the US civil war and was sunk near North Charleston, South Carolina, in 1864. Speculation about the crew's deaths has included suffocation and drowning, but a new study claims that a shockwave created by their own weapon was to blame.

After 15 years of painstaking restoration, scientists say they are on the brink of solving what sank the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley - the first sub in history to wreck an enemy warship. Considered the Confederacy's stealth weapon during the Civil War, the hand-cranked Hunley sank the Union warship Housatonic in winter 1864 and then disappeared with all eight Confederate sailors inside. Its remains were discovered in 1995 in waters off South Carolina and five later it was raised to a conservation lab. Now with about 70per cent of the hull cleaned of heavy rust, Paul Mardikian, a senior conservator...

A century and a half after it sank and a decade and a half after it was raised, scientists are finally getting a look at the hull of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship. What they find may finally solve the mystery of why the hand-cranked submarine sank during the Civil War. "It's like unwrapping a Christmas gift after 15 years. We have been wanting to do this for many years now," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the Hunley project.

The moonlit sea was unusually calm on the bitterly cold night of Feb. 17, 1864, when a watchman spotted a strange, partially submerged shape gliding steadily toward the side of the Union sloop-of-war Housatonic. The steam-powered warship was serving blockade duty outside Charleston Harbor, and was one of the Union’s biggest, best-armed vessels. Its men had heard reports of a new Confederate weapon, a “sub-torpedo”; still, it took a few minutes for the officer of the deck, John Crosby, to comprehend what he was seeing. By the time he did, it was too late. The swiftly moving craft had passed...

Hunley closely guards it secretsIt could be one of the nation’s oldest cold case files: What happened to eight Confederate sailors aboard the CSS H.L. Hunley after it became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship? Their hand-cranked sub rammed a spar with black powder into the blockade ship USS Housatonic off Charleston on a chilly winter night in 1864 then disappeared. The Hunley’s fate has been the subject of almost 150 years of conjecture and almost a decade of scientific research since it was raised in 2000. But the submarine has been agonizingly slow surrendering her...

On Friday afternoon, a New York motorist called police with a tip about a potential terror threat. Seems someone was hauling a suspicious-looking object — it resembled a torpedo — on the highways around the city. Before long 30 agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, were searching for this potential menace. Even Coast Guard cutters in the area were on the lookout, since the thing looked sort of like a boat. They should have set the terror color chart to Rebel Gray, because they were just hunting for a bunch of good ol’ boys from Summerville hauling a replica...

Researchers say they may have the final clues needed to solve the mystery of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which never resurfaced after it became the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship, taking its eight-man crew to a watery grave.

NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Confederate Civil War vessel H.L. Hunley, the world's first successful combat submarine when it sank a Union ship in 1864, was unveiled in full and unobstructed for the first time on Thursday, capping a decade of careful preservation. "No one alive has ever seen the Hunley complete. We're going to see it today," said engineer John King as a crane at a Charleston conservation laboratory slowly lifted a massive steel truss covering the top of the submarine. About 20 engineers and scientists applauded as they caught the first glimpse of the intact 42-foot-long...

The world got an unobstructed view of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley for the first time since the Civil War on Thursday as a massive steel truss that had surrounded the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship was finally removed.

The world got an unobstructed view of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley for the first time since the Civil War on Thursday as a massive steel truss that had surrounded the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship was finally removed. The truss weighing more than 8 tons had shrouded the sub since it was raised off the coast of South Carolina almost a dozen years ago.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship is upright for the first time in almost 150 years, revealing a side of its hull not seen since it sank off the South Carolina coast during the Civil War. Workers at a conservation lab finished the painstaking, two-day job of rotating the hand-cranked H.L. Hunley upright late Thursday. The Hunley was resting on its side at a 45-degree angle on the bottom of the Atlantic when it was raised in August 2000 and scientists had kept it in slings in that position in the lab...

There is a new and long article on the Hunley recovery. It is in this month's issue of the Civil War Times. I don't have any text but you can see it at a bookstore. It contains new details (though nothing major) and photos that have not previously been published to my knowledge. The link still shows the previous (Aug. 2001) issue of Civil War Times for some reason.

CHARLESTON — Scientists excavating the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley found an open bulkhead at the rear of the sub, leading to another possible explanation for historic submarine's sinking. The Hunley foundered off Charleston in February 1864 after ramming explosives into the Union blockade ship Housatonic and becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. Immediately following the attack, the Hunley signaled to shore with a blue lantern, according to both Union and Confederate accounts. ``That at least leads me to conclude that the Hunley had circumstances under control and something more than likely happened after that,'' said State Sen. ...

CHARLESTON, S.C. — It's long been a mystery why the H.L. Hunley never returned after becoming the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship in 1864, but new research announced Friday may lend credence to one of the theories. Scientists found the eight-man crew of the hand-cranked Confederate submarine had not set the pump to remove water from the crew compartment, which might indicate it was not being flooded. That could mean crew members suffocated as they used up air, perhaps while waiting for the tide to turn and the current to help take them back to land....

Civil War Watch Stopped Suddenly; Sub End Still Unknown Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina Associated Press December 17, 2007 When scientists opened the watch belonging to the H.L. Hunley commander three years ago, they thought they had the key clue to why the Confederate submarine sank off Charleston, South Carolina. But the 18-karat gold watch now seems to raise even more questions, despite the finding announced last week that the watch did not slowly wind down but stopped quickly—perhaps the result of a concussion or rushing water. "All of us were thinking the watch pointed to the crucial moment,"...

Charleston, S.C. (AP) -- When scientists opened the watch belonging to the H.L. Hunley commander three years ago, they thought they had the key clue to why the Confederate submarine sank off Charleston. But the 18-karat gold watch now seems to raise even more questions even though scientists announced Friday it did not slowly wind down but stopped quickly — perhaps the result of a concussion or rushing water. "All of us were thinking the watch pointed to the crucial moment," said state Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, chairman of the state Hunley Commission. "But I would say instead of the...

Hunley crewmen search leads to Old World By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 22, 7:30 PM ET CHARLESTON, S.C. - The story of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub to sink an enemy warship, is leading back to the Old World as researchers plan to spend weeks trying to discover the roots of four European crewmen. Scientists also said Thursday they have recovered a second coin from the hand-cranked sub — a silver dime to go along with a $20 gold piece recovered in 2001. With a mint date of 1841, the dime shows Lady Liberty...