On 17 February 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1,240- displacement ton United States Navy screw sloop-of-war Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade-duty in Charleston's outer harbor. Both times Hunley was raised and returned to service. She sank again on 15 October 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Lawson Hunley himself, who was aboard at the time, even though he was not a member of the Confederate military. Hunley (then referred to as the 'fish boat', the 'fish torpedo boat', or the 'porpoise') sank on 29 August 1863, during a test run, killing five members of her crew. She was then shipped by rail on 12 August 1863, to Charleston.

Hunley, nearly 40 ft (12 m) long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, South Carolina. The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of Hunley during her short career. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship ( USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her successful attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to base.

Hunley demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare.

Hunley, often referred to as Hunley or as CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War. Location in the United States Show map of the United States

Hunley submarine tin sign