page_title: John Philip Holland
section_title: Development of submarine designs
hierarchical_section_title: John Philip Holland / Development of submarine designs
caption_attribution_description: John Philip Holland, U.S. American engineer (1841-1914)
context_page_description: John Philip Holland was an Irish engineer who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the US Navy, and the first Royal Navy submarine, Holland 1.
context_section_description: While a teacher, he was turned away. After his arrival in the United States, Holland slipped and fell on an icy Boston street and broke a leg. While recuperating from the injury in a hospital, he used his time to refine his submarine designs and was encouraged by Isaac Whelan, a priest.
  In 1875, his  submarine designs were submitted for consideration by the US Navy, but turned down as unworkable. The Fenians (Irish revolutionaries), however, continued to fund Holland's research and development expenses at a level that allowed him to resign from his teaching post. In 1878 he demonstrated the Holland I prototype. In 1881, Fenian Ram was launched, but soon after, Holland and the Fenians parted company on bad terms over the issue of payment within the Fenian organisation, and between the Fenians and Holland. The submarine is now preserved at Paterson Museum, New Jersey.
  Holland continued to improve his designs and worked on several experimental boats, prior to his successful efforts with a privately built type, launched on 17 May 1897. This was the first submarine having power to run submerged for any considerable distance, and the first to combine electric motors for submerged travel and gasoline engines for use on the surface. She was purchased by the US Navy, on 11 April 1900, after rigorous tests and was commissioned on 12 October 1900 as USS Holland. Seven more of her type were ordered with five built at the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey and two built at Union Iron Works in California. The company that emerged from under these developments was called The Electric Boat Company, founded on 7 February 1899. Isaac Leopold Rice became the company's first president, with Elihu B. Frost acting as vice-president and chief financial officer.  This company eventually evolved into the major defence contractor General Dynamics.
  The USS Holland design was also adopted by others, including the Royal Navy in developing the Holland-class submarine. The first five submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy used a modified version of the basic design, although these boats were at least 10 feet longer at about 63 feet. These submarines were also developed at the Fore River Ship and Engine Company in Quincy, Massachusetts. Holland also designed the Holland II and Holland III prototypes. The Royal Navy 'Holland 1' is on display at the Submarine Museum, Gosport, England.
caption: Holland stands in the hatch of a submarine.
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