Plunger (experimental submarine)

Plunger (also called Holland V) was an experimental submarine which was evaluated by the United States Navy from 1898 to 1900. It is not to be confused with USS Plunger which was commissioned by and served in the U.S. Navy.

History
Plunger was the fifth submarine designed and built by Irish engineer and inventor John Philip Holland. It was a 149-ton experimental steam-powered submarine had its design approved in October 1893 and built under a U.S. Navy contract issued in March 1895.

Plunger features, most of them novel for the time, included three propellers, a steam engine plant, a retractable smokestack, thrusters to facilitate maneuvering, a camera lucida (an optical device serving as a periscope) and two torpedo tubes. She was, possibly, the first submarine designed to fire self-propelled torpedoes.

Plunger was constructed at the Columbia Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland and launched in August 7, 1897. The Navy conducted dock trials with Plunger in 1898. Her complex steam power plant proved impractical for a submarine and the boat was not accepted for service by the Navy. In July 1899 reconstructing Plunger with new engines was considered, but it was decided against.

The contract between Holland and the Navy was cancelled in 1900. The money already outlaid for Plunger was applied to the cost of purchasing a new submarine, which became USS Plunger (SS-2). The original Plunger was kept by the Holland Torpedo Boat Company at its facility in New Suffolk on Long Island. She remained unused until she was scrapped in 1917.

Legacy
Holland applied lessons learned from Plunger to his design of his next submarine, Holland VI, which was accepted by the Navy and commissioned as USS Holland. A similar submarine to the USS Holland, named HMS Holland 1, was commissioned in the Royal Navy. The name Plunger was given to the lead ship of the first multi-ship class of U.S. Navy submarines.

Specifications

 * Length - 85 feet
 * Diameter - 12 feet
 * Displacement - 168 tons
 * Armament - two torpedo tubes