Editing David Bushnell (inventor)

{{Short description|American inventor who built the "Turtle" submersible (1740–1824)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Other people|David Bushnell}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = David Bushnell
| image              = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1740|08|30}}
| birth_place        = [[Saybrook, Connecticut]], British America
| death_date         = {{BirthDeathAge|{{^}}|1740|08|30|1824|{{^}}|{{^}}|yes}}
| death_place        = [[Warrenton, Georgia]], U.S.
| nationality        = American
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Inventor
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = Building "[[Turtle (submersible)|Turtle]]" submersible
| notable_works      = 
}}
[[File:Turtle submarine 1776.jpg|thumb|right|A diagram of Bushnell's ''[[American Turtle]]'']]
'''David Bushnell''' (August 30, 1740 – 1824) was an American [[inventor]], [[Patriot (American Revolution)|patriot]], teacher, and a medical doctor.

Bushnell invented the first submarine to be used in battle, ''[[Turtle (submersible)|Turtle]]'', as well as a floating mine triggered by contact. He was a veteran of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].

==Early life==
David Bushnell was born in a secluded part of [[Saybrook, Connecticut]] on 30 August 1740 and baptized in 1753 into a farming family in what is now Westbrook, Connecticut where his parents Nehemiah Bushnell and Sarah (Susan) Ingham Bushnell owned a farm.<ref>George Eleazer Bushnell. ''Bushnell Family Genealogy, Ancestry and Posterity of Francis Bushnell (1580–1646)'' Nashville: [NP], 1945. pp. 112–113, 189–190.</ref> He was the first of five children born. Following the death of his father circa 1769, he sold his half interest in the family Westbrook farm to his brother Ezra and entered [[Yale University|Yale College]] in 1771 at the relatively old age of 31.<ref>Bushnell, ''Bushnell Family Genealogy, 1''89.</ref>

==The ''Turtle'' submarine==
{{main|Turtle (submersible)}}

Bushnell is credited with creating the first [[submarine]] ever used in combat, while studying at Yale in 1775.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0087|title=Founders Online: To Benjamin Franklin from Benjamin Gale, 7 August 1775|website=founders.archives.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref> He called it ''Turtle'' because of its look in the water. His idea of using water as [[ballast tanks|ballast]] for submerging and raising his submarine is still in use, as is the [[screw propeller]], which was used in ''Turtle.''

While at Yale, Bushnell proved that [[gunpowder]] could be exploded under water.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} He used this knowledge not only in construction of the underwater mine but later in creating floating torpedoes that exploded on contact. Working with the wealthy New Haven inventor, clock-maker, and brass foundry-man [[Isaac Doolittle]], he also co-developed the first mechanically triggered [[Time bomb (explosive)|time bomb]] as well as one of the first ship's [[propeller]]. He combined these ideas by building ''Turtle'' which was designed to attack ships by attaching a time bomb to their hulls, while using a hand powered drill and ship auger bit to penetrate the hulls.

On September 7, 1776, ''Turtle'', manned by Sergeant [[Ezra Lee]] of the Continental Army, was used to attack the British 64-gun ship of the line {{HMS|Eagle|1774|6}} which was moored in [[New York Harbor]]. However, ''Turtle''{{'}}s attack failed.

''Turtle'' was lost while being transported aboard a sloop; the sloop was discovered and sunk by British frigates leaving Bloomingdale.<ref>Charles Griswold to Professor Silliman, Lyme CT, February 21, 1820; from "The Beginning of Modern Submarine Warfare, under Captain-Lieutenant David Bushnell, Sappers and Miners, Army of the Revolution;" Henry L. Abbot (pamphlet, 1881); reproduced by Frank Anderson (Archon Books and Shoe String Press, Hamden CT, 1966); pp. 26–28</ref>

==Attack on HMS ''Cerberus''==
Realizing that ''Turtle'' was impractical as a weapon, Bushnell turned explosive devices that he called torpedoes<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thacher |first1=James |title=An Army Doctor's American Revolution Journal, 1775–1783 |date=2019 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=9780486834153 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5eWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |access-date=9 June 2024}}</ref> first used as a name for [[torpedo fish|electric rays]] (in the order ''[[Torpediniformes]]''), which in turn comes from the Latin word ''[[wikt:torpedo#Latin|torpēdō]]'' ("lethargy" or "sluggishness").<ref>{{cite web |title=torpedo (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/torpedo |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Douglas Harper |access-date=28 March 2024}}</ref> In 1777 Bushnell attempted to use a [[Naval mine|floating mine]] to blow up {{HMS|Cerberus|1758|6}} in Niantic Bay; the mine struck a small boat near ''Cerberus'' and detonated killing four sailors<ref>Manstan, Roy R.; Frese, Frederic J. (2010). ''Turtle: David Bushnell's Revolutionary Vessel''. Yardley, Pa: Westholme Publishing, p. 27o</ref> and destroying the vessel, but not the intended target. In 1778 he launched what became lauded as the [[Battle of the Kegs]], in which a series of mines was floated down the [[Delaware River]] to attack British ships anchored there, killing two curious young boys<ref>Marstan and Frese, p. 271</ref> and alerting the British. The attack was ineffectual.

==Continental Army service==
In 1778, General Washington proposed the formation of a new military unit to be known as the "Corps of Sappers and Miners" (i.e. combat engineers) and in the summer of the next year it was organized. Bushnell was given command of the Corps with the rank of captain-lieutenant on August 2, 1779. On May 6, 1779, he was taken prisoner in Middlesex Parish, now [[Darien, Connecticut]], and was later exchanged.

On June 8, 1781, Bushnell was commissioned as a captain in the [[Continental Army]] and was at the [[Siege of Yorktown]] in September and October of that year. This was the only time the Sappers and Miners had had the opportunity to serve in combat.

Bushnell served in the Army until he was discharged on June 3, 1783. He then became an original member of the Connecticut [[Society of the Cincinnati]], an organization formed by officers who were veterans of the Continental Army and Navy.

At some point after the Revolution, Bushnell was presented a medal by George Washington.

==Later life==
After peace was declared he returned to Connecticut where he lived until 1787 when he abruptly moved to France. His activities in France are unknown, although it has been speculated{{by whom?|date=November 2023}} that he may have collaborated with inventor [[Robert Fulton]] in developing a design for a submarine.

In 1803 Bushnell settled in [[Warrenton, Georgia]] under the pseudonym of David Bush.<ref>Jefferson, Thomas. ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series,'' Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. Princeton University Press, 2011, p. 513.</ref> He taught at the Warrenton Academy and practiced medicine. He died in Warrenton in 1824.

==Legacy==
A full sized model of David Bushnell's ''Turtle'' is on display at the [[Submarine Force Library and Museum|U.S. Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum]] in [[Groton, Connecticut]].

In 1915, the U.S. Navy named the [[submarine tender]] {{USS|Bushnell|AS-2}} after him and it was launched in Bremerton, Washington. ''Bushnell'' served during World War I and was renamed USS ''Sumner'' in 1940 and was present during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She was employed as a [[survey ship]] during World War II and was decommissioned in 1946.

On 14 September 1942, another submarine tender of the same name {{USS|Bushnell|AS-15}} was launched. ''Bushnell'' served during World War II and later was the [[flagship]] of Submarine Squadron 12 in [[Key West, Florida]] from 1952 until she was decommissioned in 1970.

In 2004 the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] passed a resolution declaring August 30, 2004 as David Bushnell Day in Georgia.<ref>{{Citation |last= |first= |title=House Resolution 1796: A resolution |date= |year= |url=https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20032004/39496 |access-date= |publisher= |last2= |first2= |author-link= |author2-link=}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Swanson, June. ''David Bushnell and His Turtle" – The Story of America's First Submarine''. Atheneum. 1991. {{ISBN|0-689-31628-3}}
* The Record of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service During the American Revolution, by the Connecticut Historical Society
* Lefkowitz, Arthur S. "Bushnell's Submarine" – The Best Kept Secret of the American Revolution. Scholastic Inc. 2006. {{ISBN|0-439-74352-4}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030415051537/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/bushnelld.html Inventor of the Week]
* [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi638.htm Engines of our Ingenuity – No. 638: Bush-Bushnell]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031030417/http://www.americanrevolution.org/war%20songs/warsongs55.html War songs – Battle of the Kegs]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=l8DZp4n220YC&dq=Two+Boys++blown+up+in+the+BAttle+of+the+kegs&pg=PA60 Commodore John Barry: "the father of the American navy" : the record of his ...By Martin Ignatius Joseph Griffin .p.60 claims 2 boys were killed by the floating kegs.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushnell, David}}
[[Category:1740 births]]
[[Category:1820s deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:Continental Army officers from Connecticut]]
[[Category:People of Connecticut in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Submarine pioneers]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:People from Westbrook, Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from colonial Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from Warrenton, Georgia]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Inventors from Connecticut]]
[[Category:American physicians]]