page_title: Sinking of USS Housatonic
section_title: Sinking
hierarchical_section_title: Sinking of USS Housatonic / Sinking
caption_attribution_description: English: USS Housatonic.
context_page_description: The Sinking of USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864 during the American Civil War was an important turning point in naval warfare. The Confederate States Navy submarine, H.L. Hunley made her first and only attack on a Union Navy warship when she staged a clandestine night attack on USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor. H.L. Hunley approached just under the surface, avoiding detection until the last moments, then embedded and remotely detonated a spar torpedo that rapidly sank the 1,240 long tons sloop-of-war with the loss of five Union sailors. H.L. Hunley became renowned as the first submarine to successfully sink an enemy vessel in combat, and was the direct progenitor of what would eventually become international submarine warfare, although the victory was Pyrrhic and short-lived, since the submarine did not survive the attack and was lost with all eight Confederate crewmen.
context_section_description: On the evening of 17 February 1864, H.L. Hunley made her first mission against an enemy vessel during the American Civil War. Armed with a spar torpedo, mounted to a rod extending out from her bow, H.L. Hunley's mission was to lift the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina by destroying the sloop-of-war USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor.
  Housatonic was a 1,240-long-ton (1,260 t) vessel with an armament of twelve large cannons, stationed at the entrance of Charleston Harbor roughly five miles (8.0 km) off the coast. Housatonic was commanded by Captain Charles W. Pickering and had a crew of 150 men. H.L. Hunley began her approach at about 8:45 pm, commanded by First Lieutenant George E. Dixon and crewed by seven volunteers.
  Accounts differ about the initial approach; what is known is that H.L. Hunley was spotted just before embedding her torpedo into Housatonic's hull. Official accounts say Housatonic was unable to fire a broadside at H.L. Hunley, and only hit her with small arms fire. H.L. Hunley attached her explosive to Housatonic's side before reversing and setting a course for home.
  A few moments later the torpedo detonated and sank the sloop-of-war. First-hand reports say no explosion was heard by the crew of Housatonic, who immediately began climbing the rigging or entering life boats as the sloop began to sink. Within five minutes, Housatonic was partially underwater. H.L. Hunley thus achieved the first sinking of a warship in combat via submarine.
caption: USS Housatonic
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