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 –
O 19-class submarine O 19-class submarine The "O 19" class was a class of two submarines, built for the Royal Netherlands Navy by "Fijenoord", Rotterdam. The ships were designed as submarine minelayer for operations in both European and colonies waters. The class comprised "O 19" and "O 20" and were the first submarines in the world to be equipped with a submarine snorkel that allowed the submarine to run its diesel engines while submerged. The submarines diving depth was . These units were very similar to earlier Polish , with a reduced torpedo battery and 10 vertical mine tubes fitted on each beam.