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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Intelligent Whale

Introduction from Historic Naval Ships Association web site:

Intelligent Whale was one of a number of submarines built during the Civil War. She was hand-propelled, and steered by horizontal and vertical rudders. Wooden doors on the bottom allowed a diver to exit with a mine. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1869, and brought to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for testing. In September 1872, in her only official Navy test, Intelligent Whale flooded. The crew escaped, but the Navy's interest in her ceased. Intelligent Whale was an early experiment in a field now of great importance.

Type: Early experimental submarine.
Length: 28 feet, 8 inches
Beam: 7 feet
Operating crew: 6 to 13
Displacement: 2 tons
Submerged endurance: 10 hours
Buoyancy Control: Water buoyancy control; Compressed air for positive buoyancy and sea water for negative buoyancy.
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(IW)194kStreroscopic photo of the Intelligent Whale as she rests abandoned at New York Navy Yard. Library of Congress Photo # 3b04942u courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Photo added 04/01/08.
(IW)179k Starboard side view of the Intelligent Whale as an exhibit at the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey, in Sea Girt, N.J.Photo courtesy of chinfo.navy.mil.
(IW)16k Starboard side view of the Intelligent Whale on July 1915. Photo courtesy of Historic Naval Ships Association.
(IW)20k Intelligent Whale arrives in Sea Girt, April 1999. Photo courtesy of Historic Naval Ships Association.
View the Intelligent Whale DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Intelligent Whale
Intelligent Whale: A Historical and Archaeological Analysis of an American Civil War Submersible
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