H.L. Hunley

The first ship ever sunk in war by a submarine was during the American civil war. No one in the submarine survived though. H.L. Hunley was a fully functional naval submarine used by the Confederacy in the Civil War. Powered by hand cranks and armed with buoyant torpedos, it was the first submersible vessel in history to successfully sink an enemy ship. The first time a submersible was ever used in combat was during the American Revolution in 1776. It was named Turtle.