New theory about why the confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sank

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - There is a new theory on what killed the crew of the confederate submarine H.L. Hunley in the Smithsonian Magazine.

On February 17, 1864, the H.L. Hunley sank from an explosion shortly after it plunged a live torpedo into the hull of the Union warship USS Housatonic.

Rachel Lance, a U.S. Navy biomedical engineer who holds a PhD from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering in North Carolina has made a bold claim of why the Hunley actually sank.

In her research, she concludes that the blast from the sub’s own torpedo sent blast waves through its iron hull and caused instant death for the eight men inside.

The ship was raised off the floor of Charleston Harbor in 2000. It now sits in the Hunley museum in North Charleston.