Fenian Ram

The submarine Fenian Ram was designed by

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John Philip Holland for use by the Fenian Brotherhood against the British. The Ram's construction and launching in 1881 by the Delamater Iron Company in New York was funded by the Fenians' Skirmishing Fund.

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The Ram's design was partly modeled on the Whitehead torpedo, and like it had cruciform control fins near the tail. The boat did not simply take on ballast until she sank like other contemporary submarines; she maintained a slightly positive buoyancy, and simply tilted her horizontal planes so that her forward motion forced her under.

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The Ram was armed with a nine-inch pneumatic gun some eleven feet long, mounted along the boat's centerline and firing forward out of her bow. It operated like modern submarine torpedo tubes: a watertight bow cap was normally kept shut, allowing the six-foot-long projectiles to be loaded into the tube from the interior of the submarine. Then the inner door was shut and the outer opened by a remote mechanism. Finally, 400 lb/in² (2.8 MPa) air was used to shoot the projectile out of the tube. To reload, the outer door was again shut and the water in the tube was blown into the surrounding ballast tank by more compressed air.

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During extensive trials, Holland made numerous dives and test-fired the gun using dummy projectiles. However, he was not making progress rapidly enough to suit his clients, and the Fenian Brotherhood stole the Ram and the Holland III prototype in November 1883. They took the submarine to New Haven, Connecticut, but discovered that no one knew how to operate it. Holland refused to help. Unable to use or sell the boat, the Brotherhood had the Ram hauled into a shed on the Mill River. Her 15-hp engine was scavanged to operate a forge in a brass foundry.

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In 1916, Fenian Ram was exhibited in Madison Square Garden to raise funds for victims of the Easter Uprising. Afterwards, she was moved to the New York State Marine School. In 1927, Edward Browne purchased her and moved her to Paterson, New Jersey, where she can still be seen.

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Presumably as a tribute to this vessel, the submarine which features in Frank Herberts classic science-fiction novel of submarine warfare, 'The Dragon in the Sea', is named 'Fenian Ram'.

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Fenian Brotherhood: The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish nationalist organisation based in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians". The revolutionary secret society was founded...

1881: 1881 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar)....

Whitehead: Whitehead can refer to:...

Fenian Ram related Images and Photos (experimental)

Ram's Horn	Shadows Fall - Ram Star	Country Side Ram Ireland	Orangeman and Fenian the Loyal Ulsterman Would Like to Take His Shillelagh to the Wild Fenian
Aries The Ram	Gunfight Between Fenian "Moonlighters" and the Police at Mill Near Cork	Ryeland Sheep: Ram and Ewe Bred by Mr. Tomkins of Kingspion Herefordshire	Young Bighorn Sheep Ram Basks in the Early Morning Sun in Wyoming
Close-Up of Gotland Sheep Ram's Horn Sweden	Angel Volume #3 The Wolf The Ram and The Heart Hardcover