An experimental Confederate submarine sinks in Charleston Harbor during a training accident, killing five

The experimental Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, forty feet long with a crew of eight using hand cranks for propulsion, was in Charleston Harbor for use against the Union blockade.  An operational error during trials caused her to dive with the hatches open and she sank swiftly, drowning five crewmen.  The Hunley was raised and did carry out a successful attack the following February but was lost, finally this time, with all hands.  (By John Osborne) 
Source Citation
Shane Mountjoy, Technology in the Civil War (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008), 82-83. 
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Battles/Soldiers
    How to Cite This Page: "An experimental Confederate submarine sinks in Charleston Harbor during a training accident, killing five," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/41425.