Evening star., 1941-05-18
BY CLAUDE MAHONEY.

II idoudeC W1tlA q SCllIiIIlClit 1OI tlic
sea, has named a submarine tender
for David Bushnell, q Yale graduate
Of the class of ITS, who is known
familiarly to students of naval his
tory as the father of the sub
marine"
It's the second tender to be
named the Bushnell, but that is
small enough honor for the inventor
who built the Turtle, the craft that
might have turned the course Of
the Revolutionary War sooner-if
everything had worked out right.
This second honor may be an &C.
knowledgement by Uncle Sam that
he didn't treat the inventor fairly
after the Revolution. Bushnell
thought he was mistreated; he
thought so strongly on the subject
that he went away and changed
his name to DR.. Bush.
Six Others Are Named.
1llc IlSW ". .. .. ouollllcu ID
under construction at the Navy
Yard at Mare Island, Calf, and
was named with four other sub
tenders and two mine layers yes
terday. Other names selected by
the President for the tenders under
construction are Neptune, Nereus,
Orion and Porteus. The Catskil
and the Ozark are names chosen
for the two mine layers.
But none has the romance of the
name of the man who built the first
workable submarine in this coun-
try, the submarine that might have
blown up the British frigate Eagle
If the Eagle hadn't had some sort of
metal on her bottom that stopped
the brace and bit the submarine
operator was using to get hole
for fastening a crude underwater
bomb.
David Bushnell was a Connecticut
Yankee whom George Washington
called "a man Of great mechanical
powers, fertile in invention and mas
ter of execution" He must have
been such a man, indeed, for history
shows that when other Yale lads
were disporting themselves in their
spare time. young Bushnell was solv-
ing the problem of exploding gun
powder under water. He had no
percussion caps-they were not yet
invented-So he took a flintlock from
musket and had it snapped by
clockwork that could be set in a
water-tight cask and set for any de-
sired length of time.
He kept blowing water out of Con-
necticut rivers until Gov. Trumbell
became so impressed he had his
council appropriate enough money
for Bushnell to build the Turtle.
Thus the State of Connecticut was
the first world power" to have a
submarine in its navy. The Dutch
Rotterdam boat was private prop
erty, and the "eelboats" of King
James were pleasure craft.
The hull Of the Turtle was of oak,
"corked and tarred," according to
early accounts. The combination
coming tower md hatchway was
brass, and a nedium-sized man
could just slide through. Once in
side, the operator acted as both pro-
pelling machinery and crew, and, &C
cording to an old account, was
"busier than cathedral organist on
Easter morning."
With one foot he opened q brass
valve that let water into the ballast
tanks, and with the other foot he
pumped it out. There was a little
vertical propeller, hand worked, and
another hand-worked tractor pro-
peller for forward motion. Behind
was the rudder, the handle under
the arm of the operator.
Sergt. Ezra Lee attempted the
destruction of the Eagle in New
York Harbor. The Turtle was
towed out by whaleboats, cut loose,
and Sergt. Lee maneuvered it under
the Eagle. He tried to bore the
hole and fasten in it an oak maga-
zine with a time fuse, but he hit
metal and failed. On his way back
from his unsuccessful attempt he
cut loose his magazine and fright
ened away a boatload of British
who were approaching him.
Used Several Other Times.
The Turtle was used several more
times, and at last planted a maga-
zine near the frigate Cerberus, near
New London, Conn. A sloop
nearby exploded the mag
azine and was demolished. Then
it set powder kegs in the Delaware
River, and the British, frightened,
began shooting at every bit of float
ing debris. This frenzy was de-
scribed by a sarcastic Revolutionary
poet in THE Battle of the Kegs"
Bushnell was captured by the
but the name made no i'm
preston on them, and he was re.
leased. He was "a years old when
he died as DR.. Bush, and his iden-
tity was revealed in his will.
But the new sub tender will
hnpnr fbo yrooy, to xv,l,ov,. e,,t,,., . 3D.. -