Robert Fulton the "Nautilus", the first practical submarine in history. Fulton is also credited with inventing some of the world's earliest naval torpedoes for use by the British Royal Navy. Fulton became interested in steam engines and the idea of steamboats in 1777 when he was around age 12 and visited state delegate William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who was interested in this topic. Henry had learned about inventor James Watt and his Watt steam engine on an earlier visit to England. Robert Fulton was born on a farm in Little Britain, Pennsylvania, on November 14, 1765. He had three sisters –
Hunley-class submarine tender ones. The ships were powered by ten Diesel engines, delivering 15.000 SHP on one shaft. Both tenders were decommissioned following the retirement of the "Poseidon"-equipped SSBNs. After spending at least a decade in the Reserve Fleet, both ships were scrapped. Hunley-class submarine tender The "Hunley"-class was a class of two submarine tenders in service with the United States Navy from 1962 to 1996. The "Hunley"-class was the first class of submarine tenders in the U.S. Navy being built from the keel up to service ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). The early generations of SSBNs were equipped with the UGM-27 Polaris missile.