Despite sinking during its first test, the Brandtaucher submarine is an intriguing testament to the early achievements of military technology and underwater navigation.
At the German Military History Museum in Dresden, there is a large iron submarine on display. Manufactured in 1850, the pioneering vessel named Brandtaucher is the first German submarine ever built and the oldest surviving submarine in the world, according to Amusing Planet.
The Brandtaucher submarine on display at the museum. (Photo: Jan Rehschuh/Wikimedia Commons).
Brandtaucher was designed by Wilhelm Bauer, a German engineer born in Dillingen in the Kingdom of Bavaria. Initially trained as a woodturner, Bauer eventually followed in his father’s footsteps, who was a sergeant in the Bavarian cavalry regiment, and joined the military. As an artillery engineer during the Second Schleswig War (1848 – 1852), Bauer witnessed how easily the American Navy could blockade the coastline of Prussia. This experience inspired him to develop a submarine capable of breaking the blockade.
Submarines were not a new concept at that time. Among the earliest successful submarine designs was one created by Dutch engineer and inventor Cornelius Drebbel for King James I of England in 1620. It is unclear how much inspiration Wilhelm Bauer drew from his predecessors. However, he began studying shipbuilding and hydraulics. While stationed in Jutland, Bauer observed the natural movements of seals and used them as a model for his design. In fact, the shape of his vessel resembled a plump seal, earning it the nickname “Iron Seal.”
Bauer returned to Bavaria in 1849 and presented his invention to a military committee, but they dismissed it. Undeterred, he moved to Northern Germany and joined the Schleswig-Holstein army, which expressed interest in the project and requested him to further develop and construct a working model. Bauer created a functioning prototype of the submarine, but the military refused to fund its realization, forcing him to seek private financing. He raised some funds and began production with engineer August Howaldt.
However, due to a lack of funding, Bauer and Howaldt had to make several significant modifications to the original design, such as reducing the thickness of the submarine’s hull and eliminating the ballast tank. Instead, water was stored in the bottom of the hull, beneath the main deck, and shifted relatively freely in this area when the submarine changed direction. This design flaw resulted in poor stability, likely contributing to the vessel’s failure.
The Brandtaucher submarine was 8.5 meters long and weighed approximately 31,751 kg. The vessel operated with two crew members who manually turned cranks with their hands and feet. A third person sat at the rear of the submarine operating the rudder and other control equipment. Brandtaucher was designed to attack enemy ships. The submarine would dive underneath the target vessel, where the captain would reach through rubber gloves attached to a hole in the hull and attach himself to the enemy ship.
On February 1, 1851, a demonstration was held at the port of Kiel. Inside the submarine were Bauer, carpenter Friedrich Witt, and blacksmith Wilhelm Thomsen. The first few minutes went smoothly, but as Bauer proceeded to the deepest part of the harbor to dive, the hull began to leak and could not withstand the water pressure. As the submarine began to flood, it slowly sank to the bottom of the harbor. Bauer and his companions anxiously waited for 6 hours until the water had seeped in enough to equalize the pressure inside the submerged vessel. This allowed them to open the submarine hatch and the three crew members surfaced. The wreck of the Brandtaucher was recovered in 1887 and is currently displayed at the Military History Museum in Dresden.
Bauer went on to construct a second submarine called Seeteufel (Sea Devil), for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Learning from his previous experience with Brandtaucher, Bauer addressed the issues in the first design. The Seeteufel was much larger and more advanced, successfully completing 133 dives within 4 months. However, during the 134th dive, the submarine became stranded on a sandbank at the bottom of the sea. By pumping out the water from the cylindrical tank, the crew raised the submarine high enough for the hatch to be above the water’s surface. All crew members, including Bauer, were rescued, but the submarine sank to the seabed. A miniature model of the Sea Devil is displayed at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
