Lee Attacks Eagle: Submarine Warfare Debuts

Sergeant Ezra Lee submerged beneath the dark waters of New York Harbor on the night of September 7, 1776, piloting the Turtle, a one-man submersible vessel that attempted the world's first submarine attack against the British warship HMS Eagle. The Turtle, designed by Yale-educated inventor David Bushnell, was a six-foot-tall oak shell shaped like two tortoise shells joined together, powered by hand-cranked propellers and navigated by a crude compass illuminated with bioluminescent foxfire. Lee's mission was to attach a 150-pound keg of gunpowder to the Eagle's hull using a drill bit operated from inside the submarine. The attack failed. Lee maneuvered the Turtle underneath the Eagle, which served as the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe's fleet anchored off Governors Island, but could not penetrate the ship's hull with the hand drill. One account suggests he struck a metal fitting or copper sheathing rather than wood. After roughly 30 minutes of fruitless effort, exhausted from cranking the propellers and struggling with the primitive controls, Lee released the explosive charge and retreated. The powder keg detonated harmlessly in the harbor, sending a plume of water skyward but causing no damage to the British fleet. Bushnell had built the Turtle in 1775, understanding that the rebellious colonies had no navy capable of challenging British warships in open combat. The submarine represented an asymmetric approach to naval warfare: if a single man in a wooden egg could sink a warship, American forces could offset Britain's overwhelming sea power. General George Washington, who authorized the mission, was reportedly fascinated by the device and its potential. No British records of the attack exist, and some historians have questioned whether the mission took place as described in American accounts written years after the fact. The Turtle itself was lost when the sloop transporting it up the Hudson River was sunk by British forces in October 1776. Regardless of the disputed details, the concept behind the attack was genuine and prophetic. Submarine warfare would eventually become one of the most decisive weapons in naval history, from the Civil War's H.L. Hunley to the nuclear submarines that patrol the world's oceans today.