The H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to successfully attack an enemy ship in combat when it sank the wooden ship USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864. The Confederate vessel disappeared with ...

On Feb. 17, 1864, outside Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, a Confederate submarine known as the H.L. Hunley sank a 1,200-ton Union warship, the USS Housatonic. It was the first combat submarine ...