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President |
In 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine using a torpedo, resulting in the loss of 1,198 lives, including 124 Americans. This tragedy prompted President Woodrow Wilson to abandon his policy of neutrality, leading the United States to declare war on Germany. America’s involvement became a decisive factor in World War I (1914 – 1918).
During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, if the Russians had utilized submarines a few years earlier, the Imperial Russian Navy might not have sunk deeply into the ocean, and Japan would have found it difficult to achieve remarkable victories that astonished and impressed the world.
Submarines, the deadly assassins of the sea, were invented by Simon Lake, inspired by suggestions from French author Jules Verne. Simon Lake first read Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” when he was 10 years old and dreamed of creating a submarine more perfect than the fictional Nautilus.
1. Thoughts on Submarines.
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Simon Lake (1867 – 1945) |
Simon Lake (1867 – 1945) grew up in a mechanically inclined family. His family had never purchased any machinery they could create themselves. Simon’s grandfather invented a seed sowing machine, and his father developed a type of window shade (roller blind), while other family members also demonstrated creativity in improving typewriters, telephones, and color printing tools.
Inspired by Jules Verne’s fiction, Simon Lake often dreamed of a submarine and shared his ideas with his father, who advised him to focus on his studies first. Pursuing his interests, Simon trained as a machinist and attended engineering classes at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia during his free time.
At the age of 15, Simon read a book detailing how to build ships, which led him to devise a method for creating a small submarine. However, he was puzzled by how to store the necessary air for the sailor. He invented a device that allowed him to measure time underwater, and although he attempted to breathe underwater by pressing his head beneath the surface, he could not do so for long as a neighbor thought he was drowning and pulled him up. Despite using rudimentary equipment, Simon discovered a method to enable him to breathe underwater for half an hour, and through various experiments, he determined the volume of air required for breathing over a given time.
In 1893, Simon Lake sketched a submarine launching a torpedo at a warship, but he soon lost interest in using submarines for military purposes. He recognized their potential for pearl diving, oil extraction, mining, and recovering sunken goods.
While Simon Lake was planning his submarine, John Philip Holland was pursuing the same goal. When Simon was 11, Holland built the Fenian Ram submarine for Irish comrades to target British warships, but after multiple failures, he temporarily abandoned his research.
At that time, Simon Lake observed that submarines were constructed based on flawed principles. They dove like dolphins, making steering difficult and risking crashing into the sea floor. He devised a method to use small fins attached to the nose and tail, allowing the submarine to dive while maintaining a horizontal position, a technique still employed by submarines worldwide today.
Simon Lake also discovered a method allowing submariners to exit the submarine to retrieve objects from the ocean floor. His submarine featured a chamber with two watertight doors, one leading inside and the other opening to the sea. When a sailor entered the chamber, they would seal the inner door and pump air into the chamber until the pressure was sufficiently high to keep water out before opening the outer door. He invented a safety device attached to the winch to prevent the wheel from rotating in reverse, which later became standard on all vessels with cranes.
2. The Argonaut Submarine.
One day in 1892, Simon Lake read a newspaper article in which the United States Navy called for bids to construct a submarine. Lake took all the diagrams of his submarine to Washington, D.C., where he was briefly questioned by authorities, but his proposal received no interest. Perhaps this was because Simon Lake was just an ordinary machinist, poorly dressed, lacking funds, and without influential connections, leading to his submarine proposal being rejected in favor of his rival, John Philip Holland, who was planning to build the Plunger submarine, shaped like a cigar. Frustrated that his superior design was overlooked, Simon Lake declared he would not return to Washington until the Navy invited him back.
Simon Lake then decided to build a submarine himself. 
He went to Wall Street seeking financial backers for his project but failed. Lake returned home and sought help from relatives, resulting in the creation of the 4-foot-long Argonaut Jr. submarine. The submarine featured tanks for taking in water, three wheels (with the front wheel for steering and two rear wheels powered by a hand crank), and a chamber opening to the sea beneath the hull. Air was supplied via a tube connected to a buoy floating on the surface.
The launch of the Argonaut Jr. submarine on the Shrewsbury River occurred quietly. Lake and a cousin navigated the submarine through the river and returned safely, observing underwater life along the way. With this submarine, Lake operated in New York Bay, donning a diving suit he created to explore the ocean floor. The success of the Argonaut Jr. bolstered Simon Lake’s confidence, leading him to plan a larger submarine called Argonaut I, based on his original proposal to the Navy.
At that time, Simon Lake’s uncle managed to invite New York financier Nathan Straus to evaluate the submarine’s utility. Straus met Lake on a hot day. The inventor demonstrated the submarine, but unfortunately, at that moment, a large ship passed by, creating waves that slammed the submarine against the pier, damaging some components. Straus left, and Lake missed another opportunity.
Unable to fund his construction efforts, Simon Lake resorted to demonstrating his submarine to the public. Many people doubted the capabilities of the submarine, believing that the items Lake retrieved from the ocean floor were part of a trick. Some tested Lake’s skills by tying a weight to a piece of wood with their name on it and throwing it into the sea. Lake successfully retrieved all those items, dispelling public skepticism, which allowed Simon Lake to sell shares and his company, Lake Torpedo Boat, began constructing a larger submarine. This submarine was entirely metal, 12 feet long, powered by a gasoline engine, and could operate underwater without being affected by storms, garnering significant attention.
Simon Lake transported this large submarine to Bridgeport, Connecticut, inviting the mayor, several notable figures, and journalists for a test dive. Twenty-eight guests, alongside the inventor, descended to the harbor’s bottom to explore the diving chamber. The visit lasted so long that many onlookers waiting on the shore feared that the submarine had encountered an accident and anxiously awaited the arrival of a rescue vessel!
When the Cuban uprising against Spanish forces occurred, exiled Cuban elements proposed to purchase Simon Lake’s submarine, Argonaut, for 3 million dollars with two conditions: payment would only be made if the revolution succeeded, and a Cuban naval officer must test the submarine before the purchase. Simon Lake agreed to both conditions; however, unfortunately for the inventor, the Cuban officer was not accustomed to the high air pressure inside the submarine, causing the negotiations to be interrupted.
In 1898, the war between the United States and Spain broke out. Simon Lake took his submarine to Hampton Roads to explore the riverbed and mark the locations of the mines. Lake then presented to the U.S. Navy authorities the submarine’s capabilities in cutting cables and deactivating mines. Faced with the evident evidence presented by Lake, the Navy officers were astonished, but they did not recognize the new invention and suspected Lake of being a spy, threatening him if he continued similar activities.
While Simon Lake faced difficulties, Philip Holland received support from the Electric Storage Battery Company in Philadelphia and successfully developed a fairly perfect submarine, which was accepted by the Navy in 1900. The Navy then commissioned Holland to build six additional submarines.
Despite being outpaced by Holland, Simon Lake continued his research efforts. He realized that a device was needed to allow sailors in a submarine to observe the surface while submerged. Lake approached opticians, but they all shook their heads at his idea. Consequently, Lake had to conduct the research himself. With the help of a scientist, Lake succeeded in creating a periscope. Later on, it was known that there was also an English scientist named Sir Howard Grubb who invented a similar device.
Lake’s improvements to submarines caught the attention of senior Navy officers. He built a third submarine, 20 feet long, named Protector, intending to use it for coastal patrol. Lake visited Secretary of War William Howard Taft to present his initiative. As a result, three officers were dispatched to witness the submarine testing. The submarine Protector submerged for 10 hours, maneuvered under ice layers, and practiced mine deployment. Impressed by the submarine’s capabilities, the evaluators prepared a detailed report with much praise, and the U.S. Senate planned to vote on purchasing the invention. However, during discussions, the purchase of the Protector submarine was ultimately rejected.
3. Submarines Used by Many Nations.
When the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904, both nations sent representatives to inquire about purchasing Simon Lake’s submarine. The inventor was reluctant to sell this weapon to any country, but faced with the threat of bankruptcy, Lake chose Russia. The submarine Protector was hoisted onto a cargo ship, covered, and transported to Russia. Simon Lake also traveled to Russia under the alias Elwood Simon.
In Russia, the submarine Protector was tested in Lake Liepaja. The submarine had to swim from offshore, navigating a winding river without being discovered. After a challenging trial, the submarine Protector was transported by train to the port of Vladivostok. Lake then built another submarine of the same type for Russia. Unfortunately, Russia utilized the submarine too late, failing to alter the course of the war.
The use of submarines in Russia caught the attention of Krupp, a large German arms manufacturing company. Krupp intended to sign a contract with Simon Lake to produce submarines, but the agreement was canceled because Lake’s invention was not protected in Germany. Later, Krupp improved Simon Lake’s submarine into the famous U-boat design.
The practical applications of submarines were later recognized by the Americans. The U.S. Navy ordered Simon Lake’s submarine Seal and began using it in 1912. The U.S. government also commissioned the construction of five more submarines. During World War I, Simon Lake’s factories in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Long Beach, California, produced over 40 submarines for the U.S. Navy.
In 1932, Simon Lake invested money to build the submarine Explorer for the purpose of ocean exploration, searching for oil reserves, and recovering treasures lost at sea, but this project failed due to a lack of funding.
Simon Lake always dreamed of the peaceful applications of submarines. As early as 1899, he advocated for the use of submarines in Arctic exploration. Simon Lake declared that submarines are a means that allows explorers to navigate beneath the ice to discover unknown lands. This idea of Simon Lake was later perfectly realized by U.S. nuclear submarines.
