"The Sinking of the USS Housatonic was a Turning Point" Topic

…in Naval Warfare

"The first missions for the Housatonic were rousing successes. In January 1863, she took part in the capture of the USS Princess Royal, a British blockade runner loaded with supplies for the Confederate Army. The imports, which consisted of ammunition and ordnance, were later called "the war's most important single cargo of contraband."…"

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Armand

If you are winning the '1st ship sunk by sub' question in a history trivia game you would be right, but calling a sub that killed two crews to perform a single op a turning point seems a little optimistic.

I think it's possible that the steamship and blockade runner Princess Royal didn't become USS Princess Royal until after she was captured by the US Navy in January 1863.

Thanks.

Armand

Hi Murvihill,

The same argument has been presented in regard to the Kriegsmarine's K-verband. Until the advent of the Seehund, the losses appeared in the high percentile. But in terms of raw numbers, were minuscule to the losses inflicted on the enemy.

It's true that both Housatonic and Hunley lost a comparable number of men in the engagement. But the US Navy lost a steam sloop and in exchange for what the US Navy would have considered a boiler. Unfortunately for the CSN, the shortage of iron made Hunley a near strategic loss.

Still, no matter how it is analyzed, the attack caused a change in Union naval tactics and revolutionized naval warfare.

In keeping with the realm of submarine loss to victory, the US Navy lost approximately 1 fleet submarine for every month of the US's involvement in WWII, but accounted for a disproportionately high loss rate in the Japanese merchant marine and Nihon Kaigun in exchange for a relatively small loss.

The peacetime losses of submarines up to contemporary times demonstrates the near infancy of undersea warfare. Squalus, although raised, the Thresher, the Scorpion, and the soviet losses just prove it doesn't take a naval engagement to lose a submersible torpedo boat. Yet, like losses in space, we humans progress.

The next time a ship was sunk by a submarine was 1914, or 50 years later. Hunley presaged the advent of the submarine, but didn't herald it.