Submitted by: CW2 Marion Jones
Mitchell County JROTC Cadets along with the student population, teachers, CTAE Director: Simon Wilkes, the community and Honorable Mayor Kelvin Owens (Mayor; City of Camilla, Ga)
with two Vietnam Veterans enjoys the display and history of the Hunley Submarine Replica provided by Jack Cowart, of Donaldsonville, Georgia. The replica you see here is only twenty feet long BUT: The real Hunley, nearly 40 ft (12 m) long, was Confederate submarine that operated (1863–64) during the American Civil War and was the first submarine to sink (1864) an enemy ship,
the Union vessel Housatonic.
The Hunley was designed and built at Mobile, Alabama, and named for its chief financial backer, Horace L. Hunley. Less than 40 feet (12 meters) long, the submarine could hold up to nine crewmen, most of whom propelled the vessel by hand cranking a single screw. Its commander controlled steering and depth. The Hunley was shipped by rail in 1863 to Charleston, South Carolina, where it was launched in July. In practice runs and attempts to attack blockading Union warships,
it went to the bottom three times with great loss of life—including that of Hunley himself. Raised one more time, it successfully attacked the Union sloop Housatonic with a spar torpedo on February 17, 1864, sinking the vessel. The Hunley, however, was lost shortly after the attack, along with its eight crewmen. The Hunley was also (then referred to as the “fish boat”, the “fish torpedo boat”, or the “porpoise”).
Even CW2 Jones, had the opportunity to enjoy the show and tell of the Hunly replica.
