Wilhelm Bauer (December 23, 1822 - June 20, 1875) was the German inventor and engineer, who built several hand-powered submarines. Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city Year 1822 (MDCCCXXII was a Common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Sunday of the Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun. Year 1875 ( MDCCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. An inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method form device or other useful means An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability
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Biography
Wilhelm Bauer was born in Dillingen, Germany. For other uses see Dillingen Dillingen, or Dillingen an der Donau (Dillingen on the Danube) is a town in Bavaria Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. His father was a sergeant of a Bavarian cavalry regiment. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on Because of this, Wilhelm Bauer, after an apprenticeship as a wood turner, joined the military as well. Woodturning is a form of Woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a lathe. Working as an artillery engineer he witnessed the German/Danish war for Schleswig-Holstein (1848-1851). The First Schleswig War (Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg or Three Years' War (Treårskrigen was the first round of military conflict in southern Denmark and northern
Seeing how the German northern coast lay under the blockade by the Danish navy, Bauer quickly developed a plan to build a new kind of ship to help break the blockade. A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies Troops information or aid from reaching an opposing force
To accomplish that, Bauer began studying hydraulics and ship construction. For the mechanical technology see Hydraulic machinery and Hydraulic cylinder Hydraulics is a topic of science and Engineering See also Shipbuilding (song. Shipbuilding is the construction of Ships It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a But before his studies could bear any fruit the troops of the German Confederation decided to withdraw and surrender Schleswig-Holstein to the Danish. The German Confederation (Deutscher Bund was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to is the northernmost of the 16 ''Bundesländer'' in Germany. The former English name was Sleswick-Holsatia the Danish name is Bauer, however, was determined to realize his plan at any cost and left service in the German army to join the forces of Schleswig-Holstein.
It proved very hard for Bauer, who had a low military rank, to bring his plan through the various instances of the military administration and to gain fundings to build his craft. He finally succeeded with the help of Werner von Siemens and others and was granted a small sum of money to built a model of his submarine. Ernst Werner von Siemens (known as Werner von Siemens) ( December 13, 1816 &ndash December 6, 1892) was a German Inventor
The Brandtaucher ("incendiary diver") submarine
Incendiary ships were a well known concept in blockade-breaking. Brandtaucher was a Submersible designed by the German Inventor and Engineer Wilhelm Bauer and built by Schweffel Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A fire ship, used in the days of wooden rowed or Sailing ships was a ship filled with combustibles deliberately set on fire and steered (or where possible allowed to drift A ship was loaded with explosives and set free to drift into the enemy fleet, exploding at contact. The incendiary diver was planned to work on a similar principle: It would dive under an enemy vessel, fix an electrically triggered mine to its hull and escape, igniting the mine from a safe distance. A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited The more or less same technique was employed by all military submarine designs of that time, like Julius Kröhl’s Explorer, the U.S.S. Alligator by Brutus de Villeroi and the famous Hunley, which became the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. Julius Herman Kröhl (in English his name is written Kroehl) was a German -born American inventor The Sub Marine Explorer is a Submarine built between 1863 and 1866 by Julius H Construction In the autumn of 1861 the Navy asked the firm of Neafie & Levy to construct a small submersible ship designed by the French Engineer Brutus de Villeroi (1794-1874 was a French engineer of the 19th century born as Brutus Villeroi (he added the aristocratic "de" in his later years in the city of History Hunley and two earlier submarines were privately developed and paid for by Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson
After the model of the submarine, built by Bauer himself, proved to be working, he was granted enough money to build a full scale submarine. But the military authorities still were largely against Bauer’s plan and forced Bauer to change his designs in order to reduce costs.
The finished Brandtaucher, built by August Howaldt of the later Howaldtswerke was 28 feet long, weighing about 70,000 pounds. August Ferdinand Howaldt ( 23 October 1809 &ndash 4 August 1883) was a German Engineer and ship builder Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German Shipbuilding company headquartered in Kiel. As at that time no suitable mechanical power system was available the submarine was powered by two sailors turning a big tread wheel with their hands and feet. The third crew member, the captain, was positioned at the stern of the submarine. His job was to operate the rudders and other controls. Having arrived under the target ship the captain would reach out through a gutta percha (rubber) glove fixed to an opening of the hull, grab the mine located within reach on the hull of the submarine and fix it on the target. Gutta-percha ( Palaquium) is a genus of tropical Trees native to Southeast Asia and northern Australasia, from Taiwan south to
Had the Brandtaucher been built according to Bauer’s original designs, it would have achieved submersion by filling several tanks with sea water. But in the changed version the vessel itself was to be partly flooded with water, thus rendering the submarine dangerously unstable. Also the thickness of the hull and the dimensions of the pumps had to be greatly reduced.
First trials of the submarine took place in the December of 1850. Although Bauer wanted to make several improvements of the submarine, the military ordered a public show on the 1st of February, 1851.
This public demonstration almost ended in a disaster. After reaching a depth of 30 ft the craft began to lay down by the stern. As the submarine sank down the thin walls could not take the water pressure any more and started to crack. The water pressure proved too much for the weak pumps and the propeller wheel was damaged when the vessel began to keel over. The submarine slowly sank to the ground of the Kiel harbour. For the city in the United States, see Kiel Wisconsin. For the name see Kiel (name. For six hours Bauer and his sailors had to wait inside the sunken craft, until enough water had seeped in. This increased the air pressure inside the submarine and finally allowed the men to open the blocked hatchway. As the submarine stayed buried on the ground of the sea, its crew came to the surface unharmed.
The sunken submarine was raised in 1887 and can now be visited at the museum of military history at Dresden, Germany (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr)
The Seeteufel ("sea devil") submarine
After the sinking of the Brandtaucher Bauer instantly began to make plans for an improved, larger submarine. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German The Militärhistorische Museum der Bundeswehr ( German for "Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr " together with the Luftwaffenmuseum der But the government of Schleswig-Holstein refused to support Bauer after their bad experience with Bauer’s first submarine.
So Bauer left Schleswig-Holstein. In the following years he tried to obtain support for his invention in several countries, like the Austria-Hungary, the British Empire or France. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Finally, in 1855 Bauer made a contract with the grand prince of St. Petersburg (Russia). The Title Grand Prince or Great Prince (Magnus Princeps Russian and Ukrainian: Великий князь Velikiy knyaz; Вялíкий Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending During that year Bauer built his second submarine, the Seeteufel (sea devil) in St. Petersburg. Of this submarine much less is known than of the Brandtaucher. It is said to have been twice as long as its predecessor, its iron walls 1/2' thick with 21 windows in them. It had three big cylinders to hold water as immersion weight and was designed for a crew of 12.
Having learned from his first boat’s disaster Bauer provided the sea devil with a newly invented rescue device: the diver’s chamber. Through this chamber, which worked like an airlock, divers could leave and enter the submerged vessel. An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a Pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of Pressure in the
The sea devil proved to be a very good design. It made 133 successful diving runs within four months. But during the 134th dive the submarine got stuck in the sand of the ground of the sea. By emptying the water cylinders with the pumps the crew managed to raise the submarine high enough so that the hatchway was above the waterline. The whole crew (including Bauer) was saved but the submarine sank back to the bottom of the sea.
Legacy
After the end of the sea devil Bauer soon left Russia. When he realized he wouldn’t find support for another submarine he took to other projects. In 1863 Bauer managed to raise a sunken ship by means of inflatable balloons made of canvas. But all his more ambitious plans failed because of a complete lack of fundings. Disappointed by this Bauer died in 1875 in Munich. Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany.
It would be wrong to claim that the German submarine fleet of the world wars was directly descended from Wilhelm Bauer’s prototypes. A world war is a War affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations The modern submarine began its history with the inventions of Simon Lake and John Philip Holland. For the writer Simon Lake see the pseudonym of Charles L Grant. John Philip Holland (Seán Pilib Ó Maolchalann ( 29 February, 1840 &ndash 12 August, 1914) was an Engineer who developed the first The submarine pioneers of the 19th century however - de Villeroi, Monturiol, Hunley and others - were well aware of Bauer’s invention and derived many ideas and inspirations from it. Brutus de Villeroi (1794-1874 was a French engineer of the 19th century born as Brutus Villeroi (he added the aristocratic "de" in his later years in the city of Narcís Monturiol Estarriol ( 28 September 1819 – 6 September 1885) was a Spanish Catalan Engineer, Horace Lawson Hunley ( June 20, 1823, Sumner County Tennessee &ndash October 15, 1863, Charleston, South Carolina was And without these men, we wouldn’t have the technically advanced submarines we have today.
In 1960 the German navy Bundesmarine renamed a Type XXI submarine Wilhelm Bauer
References
- Oskar G. The German Navy ( Deutsche Marine ( is the Navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces Description The key improvement in the Type XXI was greatly increased battery capacity roughly three times that of the Type VIIC. Foerster: Wilhelm Bauers Kampf um das erste deutsche Tauchboot (Wilhelm Bauer’s struggle for the first German submarine), Berlin 1937
- Hanns Peugler: Sie formten das Antlitz der Erde (They formed the face of earth), Verlag Albert Pröpster KG. 1961
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