In the late 1890s, some in America’s naval hierarchy considered submersibles to be somewhat of a novelty, even a downright nuisance, and worse, a source of unwarranted expenditures of precious funds from Navy appropriations that could instead be applied to surface ships. Oth- ers, including a future president, became absolutely fascinated by a ship that could dive beneath the waves and then safely return to the surface.
TR’s Fascination with Submarines
In 1897, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the McKinley Admin- istration, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s imagination was greatly stirred by submarines while others considered these radical new weapons to be very sneaky, in fact, possessing an unfair advantage in warfare. Some Navy men felt their careers would be threatened by submarines, lest they take precedence over surface ships. Just prior to the 1898 Span- ish-American War, the cocky Irish immigrant and self-educated inven- tor, John Phillip Holland offered to sell his boats to the U.S. Navy. Sec- retary Roosevelt advocated the purchase, but the Navy dragged its feet and eventually declined. Holland’s reaction was rather indignant, “The Navy doesn’t like submarines because there’s no deck to strut on.”
Teddy Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Navy Secretary in order to lead his Rough Riders in battle in Cuba during the 100-day Spanish-American War. He returned as a war hero and signed on as William McKinley’s running mate in the incumbent’s successful 1900 reelection campaign. Meanwhile, the Navy finally decided to purchase USS Holland (SS-1) from John Holland’s Torpedo Boat Company for
$160,000 on April 11, 1900. And with that, the U.S. Naval Submarine Force was born. Holland primarily served as an experimental submarine for purposes of demonstration and training.
Tragically, President McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. Vice President Roosevelt became our 26th and youngest President. The Navy began to accept delivery of its first series of gasoline engine-pow- ered submarines, one of which was USS Plunger (SS-2).
In 1902, President Roosevelt encouraged the establishment of the Navy League of the United States, a civilian organization dedicated to promoting and supporting strong sea services. He recognized that a mar- itime nation needed highly capable naval forces. That same year, the President, while visiting the graduating class at Annapolis, observed our very first submarine skipper, Lieutenant Harry H. Caldwell, putting the 53-foot Holland through her paces without accidental sinking or incur- ring any casualties.
Plunger was commissioned in September 1903 at John Holland’s leased shipyard in New Suffolk at the east end of Long Island, about 30 miles, as the single-minded seagull flies, from New London, Connecti- cut, site of the future naval submarine base. Plunger’s Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Charles Preston Nelson who had served aboard a light cruiser during the Spanish-American War.
After a two-week upkeep period in August 1905, the 64-foot Plung- er was towed by the 140-foot ocean tugboat USS Apache to Long Is- land’s Oyster Bay. The Navy’s earliest submarines, designed for coastal patrols, were often repositioned by towing due to their limited cruising range. Upon arrival in Oyster Bay, Plunger conducted sea trials near Sagamore Hill, the “Summer White House” and home of President Ted- dy Roosevelt on the north shore of Long Island, about 25 miles from downtown New York City. Roosevelt, who by then had been elected in his own right to a full term as president, had been sworn in six months earlier. Using Apache as a floating platform for mooring and a base of operation, Plunger spent several days conducting test dives.
Presidential Plunge
On the morning of August 25th, the undersea torpedo boat charged her batteries and made five more test dives, then pulled alongside Apache to recharge. That afternoon, at the invitation of Lieutenant Nelson, and under the cover of a raging nor’easter, the adventurous president slipped away from Sagamore Hill unseen and arrived at his private landing. There a launch waited to ferry the captain and his honored guest out to Apache. It was mid-afternoon when the President surprised the crew by stepping onto the only flat portion of the submarine’s slippery deck. By then, sheets of rain pelted those standing topside. Everyone kept a wary eye on the heavy swells rolling into Oyster Bay. Although securely moored alongside the tug, Plunger bobbed like a wayward cork. The captain guided his Commander-in-Chief through the 24-inch hatch in the access trunk and prepared to get underway. A series of thick glass portholes in the trunk’s fairwater and in the hatch cover, allowed some daylight into the submarine’s gloomy interior.
With the President safely aboard and standing next to the captain in cramped quarters, the boat cast off its lines and cruised out of the harbor on the surface, propelled by a single 4-cylinder, noisy, fuming gasoline combustion engine. Once in the clear, the hatch was closed and with the tugboat standing aside, Plunger slipped beneath the choppy sea.
While the President marveled at Plunger’s marine ingenuity, the captain allowed his distinguished guest some hands-on experience. He manned the helm, started the electric motor, and activated the submerg- ing apparatus. The initial demonstration dive carried Plunger to a depth of 40 feet where she settled motionless on the bottom of Long Island Sound for about 30 minutes, as if lying in wait for an enemy warship to happen along. In this case, the rest on the sea floor gave the Presi- dent time to inspect the battery amidships and to venture aft where he observed the shutdown gasoline engine, the whirring electric motor, the air compressor, the steering gear, and the propeller shaft with its atten- dant flywheel. When escorted forward, he inspected the boat’s torpedo tube. Plunger carried but a single Whitehead torpedo so there was no reloading for a second shot. The president had the honor of firing a blank torpedo.
Despite wind-whipped waves on the surface, the Commanding Offi- cer decided to demonstrate what he called “porpoising” which involved the generous use of the diving planes. This operation called for a high- speed run — about seven knots — with alternating broaches on the sur- face, where the boat remained for about five seconds — long enough for the captain in time of war to sight an enemy warship through the access trunk portholes, to plan his torpedo attack, and to then plunge back down at a 45-degree angle to a safe depth, all in the manner of a surging por- poise. By design, Mr. Holland, who spent most of his life developing submarines, had perfected a hydrodynamic hull in the shape of a por- poise or dolphin. Although the boat had a periscope with a 15-degree field of view, the captain preferred the porpoising approach.
In another demonstration of her maneuverability, within the span of one minute, Plunger was able to stop, reverse course and scoot back to the surface. As another test of the crew’s ability to manipulate its boat under duress, all lights were turned off to simulate the loss of electrical power, happily with no impact on submerged operations. For the first time in history, the President of the United States was in total darkness at the bottom of a raging sea!
Through all these trials, Apache, serving as an early version of a sub- marine tender, stood guard in the shelter of a cove. Many things could have gone awry. If Plunger failed to surface, as experimental British and French submarines had a tendency of doing, in fact becoming death traps for their ill-fated crews, any chance of getting the Commander-in-Chief to the surface depended entirely on the trusty tugboat.
Plunger surfaced for a final time that day, restarted her gasoline en- gine and safely returned to Apache’s anchorage below Sagamore Hill in the early evening. As the President disembarked, he congratulated Lieu- tenant Nelson and his crew of nine on their outstanding performance and a most successful demonstration. On a personal note, President Roos- evelt announced in his characteristic high-pitched voice, “Never in my life have I had such a diverting day, nor can I recall having so much en- joyment in so few hours as today.” Back in his mansion, Teddy went on to instruct his staff: “Here’s a little story for the newspaper boys. I went out on the Plunger this afternoon, went down in her, and was immensely impressed with the boat and with the way in which she was handled.”
Later that evening, several Plunger sailors visited the village of Oys- ter Bay. One reported that the President ran the boat most of the time that he was onboard. Another said “The President pulled the lever that controls the whole machinery. He was tickled to death with everything and seemed to catch on in a jiffy. He worked the levers that let water in fore and aft, guided her, started her, stopped her, pressed the button that put out the lights and then lighted them again.”
The next day, news of President Roosevelt’s escapades aboard a tor- pedo boat greatly excited the adoring American people. The President spending three hours at sea during a nasty storm, including nearly an hour submerged, buoyed the enthusiasm of naval officers and submarine promoters. It also attracted worldwide attention, including light-heart-ed commentary telegraphed from various heads of state. The reaction of world leaders to Teddy’s presidential plunge was both amazing and amusing, and quite typical of the sarcastic humor of the early 1900s.
Worldwide Reaction
From Berlin came word that Kaiser Wilhelm was incensed that Roo- sevelt had outstripped him in a daring feat. He had long contemplated taking a voyage in a submarine but had been deterred by uncertainty as to what to wear. Instead he planned to swim the English Channel.
Britain’s King Edward characterized Roosevelt’s submarine exploit as a “lowdown” adventure. In fact, the King was amazed that Plunger came back up at all as submarines of the Royal Navy invariably remained on the bottom. His Majesty added, “but I have always understood that President Roosevelt was of a buoyant nature.”
In Paris, President Emile Loubet explained that he could not du- plicate Roosevelt’s submarine voyage because his whiskers would en- danger the boat’s machinery. But for the honor of France, he planned a greater feat of daring-do. He would leap from the Eiffel Tower and at the halfway mark he would retrace his way to the top.
The President’s undersea voyage had a profound effect on King Al- fonso of Spain. His message from Madrid said that if Spain had any submarines, he would duplicate the trick. Instead, he touted his automo- biles, saying that until President Roosevelt runs a motor car at a speed of 60 mph, the honor of Spain remains safe.
Cuba’s first president, Tomas Palma, was aghast at Roosevelt, hav- ing already seen the President’s heroics in the Spanish-American War which led to Cuba’s recent independence from Spain. To vindicate Cu- ba’s bravery, President Palma was supposedly goaded into eating an explosive huckleberry pie, perhaps in reference to the battleship USS Maine that blew up in Havana harbor.
In St. Petersburg, Russia, Czar Nicholas showed little interest in President Roosevelt’s death-defying voyage aboard a submarine. After all, under rather dubious circumstances, he had purchased one of Hol- land’s early prototypes the previous year. It was not necessary for the grouchy Czar to go looking for excitement as it always seemed to find him. At the time, discontent among Russians was spiraling towards a revolutionary movement.
The Japanese Imperial Navy had bought five Holland submersibles intended for use in the Russo-Japanese War but hostilities were ending so they were not used. In fact, as mediator, President Roosevelt had just completed negotiations to end the conflict. A dispatch to the Emperor of Japan brought the news of Roosevelt’s exploration of the sea floor. From Tokyo came the Emperor’s unflattering response, “I suppose it’s all in a day’s work.”
In Stockholm, when King Oscar heard of the reckless bravery of President Roosevelt, he asked if there were any Norwegians on Plung- er’s crew. Norway had just won its independence from Sweden. The King was assured that there were none, so he was happy the boat made it back to the surface.
In Constantinople, the Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, announced that no ordinary president of a republic will be able to say he is a coward. Spurred on by the submarine stunt of the President of the United States, he would take his own terrifying plunge; he would take a bath, no doubt a Turkish bath.
On the more serious side, President Roosevelt regarded submariners as highly trained professionals performing a dangerous and difficult job. In fact, having spent several hours at sea aboard Plunger, Roosevelt re- alized that submariners “have to be trained to the highest possible point as well as to show iron nerve in order to be of any use in their positions.” As Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he directed that officer duty in submarines be equated with officer duty on surface ships, indeed that submarine officers be given generous consideration for promotion.
Enlisted men qualified in submarines were paid $5 per month over the base pay of their rating but the President issued an Executive Order immediately directing that submariners be paid an additional $1 per day if their submarine spent any part of a day submerged. No doubt, this increased the frequency of diving practices! However, this undersea pay bonus was limited to $15 per month.
The President continued to have his mind on the Navy in 1905: “It seems to me that all good Americans interested in the growth of their country and sensitive to its honor should give hearty support to the pol- icies which the Navy League is founded to further. For the building and maintaining in proper shape of the American Navy, we must rely on nothing but the broad and farsighted patriotism of our people as a whole.”
In May 1909, a 24-year old Lieutenant, Chester William Nimitz, assumed command of the First Submarine Flotilla and became Plung- er’s third commanding officer. Nimitz once said that submarines of that time were “a cross between a Jules Verne fantasy and a humpbacked whale.” Subsequently, Lieutenant Nimitz commanded Snapper (SS-16), Narwhal (SS-17) and then Skipjack (SS-24). He would win our nation’s undying gratitude in World War II as Fleet Admiral Nimitz, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Plunger was renamed A-1 and Apache was re- named Aspinet (YF-176). The Holland Torpedo Boat Company became a subsidiary of the Electric Boat Company.
Epilogue
The pioneer submariner Charles P. Nelson would attain the rank of Rear Admiral by the end of his naval career. Besides his work with tor- pedo boats, he served aboard two battleships, commanded 12 submarine chasers in World War I, and held various assignments in the 3rd and 4th Naval Districts.
President Roosevelt went on to expand the Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour to project America’s naval power to the world during the period December 1907 to February 1909. When it came to international affairs, Teddy liked to quote an old African prov- erb: “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Plunger was stricken from the naval vessel register in 1913. Six years later, at the family home in Oyster Bay, the venerable Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep on Jan- uary 6, 1919 at the age of 60. The following year, Commander Nimitz received orders to build a submarine base at Pearl Harbor. He arrived in Hawaii with a map, four CPOs, and equipment scavenged from East Coast shipyards.
Teddy Roosevelt left his mark on so many aspects of American life. In 1922, the Navy League recognized his importance to the Navy by es- tablishing Navy Day on his birthday, October 27th — the original day that naval tradition called for celebrating our Navy’s beginning.
As for the name Plunger, it has been used for two additional U.S. submarines. USS Plunger (SS-179) was operating off Diamond Head when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and was one of the first subma- rines to take the fight to the enemy. She conducted 12 war patrols and sank 16 enemy ships. Fleet Admiral Nimitz praised our WWII submari- ners when he said, “It was to the Submarine Force that I looked to carry the load until our great industrial activity could produce the weapons we so sorely needed to carry the war to the enemy. It is to the everlasting honor and glory of our submarine personnel that they never failed us in our days of peril.” Continuing the legacy of high performance in our Submarine Force, USS Plunger (SSN-595), a Thresher-class nuclear submarine, had a most fitting motto: “The Past is Prologue.”
Teddy Roosevelt exemplified the bold character of American sub- mariners. He himself was a plunger — a person who enjoys taking risks. His Oyster Bay demonstration paved the way for the design and construction of more advanced submarines. Like the Naval Submarine League, he was committed to building a community of submarine ad- vocates. Today, he would be extremely proud of NSL’s support for our undersea warriors and our mission to raise awareness of the importance of submarines in keeping America safe and secure.
References for this article include the New York newspapers The Evening World and The New York Tribune, plus The Washington Times, The Hartford Courant magazine and Naval Submarine League’s Subma- rine Centennial book United States Submarines.
Dick Brown is a member of the Naval Submarine League, USSVI’s Holland Club, a life member of the Navy League, and former chairman of the USS New Mexico (SSN-779) Commissioning Committee.
