"H" is for H.L. Hunley

"H" is for H.L. Hunley. On the night of February 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic about four miles off Sullivan’s Island. This was the first successful sinking of an enemy ship by submersible in the history of the world. Constructed in Mobile, Alabama, and named for one of its owners, the iron vessel was forty feet long, five feet tall, and four feet wide. It was transported to Charleston with the hopes that it would help break the Union naval blockade of the port. The attack on the Union warship was successful, but the Confederate submarine and its crew of eight were also lost. Discovered in 1995, the H.L. Hunley was recovered in 2000 and is now housed in the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston.