John Philip Holland from
Wikipedia
| John Philip Holland (Irish: Seán Pilib
Ó hUallacháin / Ó Maolchalann) (29 February 1840 -
12 August 1914) was an Irish engineer who developed the first submarine
to be formally commissioned by the U.S. Navy, and the first Royal Navy
submarine, the Holland 1.
Early life
He was one of four brothers who may have been
born in Liscannor, County Clare, Ireland to an Irish speaking mother, Máire
Ní Scannláin, and John Holland, and learned English properly
only when he attended the local English-speaking National School system
and, from 1858, in the Christian Brothers in Ennistymon.
Holland joined the Irish Christian Brothers in
Limerick and taught in Limerick & many other centres in the country
including North Monastery CBS in Cork City and as the first Mathematics
teacher in Colaiste Ris, Dundalk. Due to ill health, he left the Christian
Brothers in 1873 |
 .
John Philip Holland |
Career
Holland emigrated to the United States in 1873.
Initially working for an engineering firm, he returned to teaching again
for a further six years in St. John's Catholic School in Paterson, New
Jersey.
Development of submarine designs
In 1875, his first submarine designs were submitted
for consideration by the U.S. Navy, but turned down as unworkable. The
Fenians, however, continued to fund Holland's research and development
expenses at a level that allowed him to resign from his teaching post.
In 1881, Fenian Ram was launched, but soon after, Holland and the Fenians
parted company angrily, primarily due to issues of payment within the Fenian
organization, and between the Fenians and Holland. The submarine is now
preserved at Paterson Museum, New Jersey.
. .
Holland stands in the hatch
of a submarine. |
Holland continued to improve his designs and
worked on several experimental boats, prior to his successful efforts with
a privately built type, launched on 17 May 1897. This was the first submarine
having power to run submerged for any considerable distance, and the first
to combine electric motors for submerged travel and gasoline engines for
use on the surface. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy, on 11 April 1900,
after rigorous tests and was commissioned on 12 October 1900 as USS Holland.
Six more of her type were ordered and built at the Crescent Shipyard in
Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The company that emerged from under these developments
was called The Electric Boat Company, founded on 7 February 1899. Isaac
Leopold Rice became the company's first President with Elihu B. Frost acting
as vice president and chief financial officer.
The USS Holland design was also adopted by others,
including the Royal Navy in developing the Holland-class submarine. The
Imperial Japanese Navy employed a modified version of the basic design
for their first five submarines, although these submarines were at least
10 feet longer at about 63 feet. These submarines were also developed at
the Fore River Ship and Engine Company in Quincy, MA.
John Philip Holland also designed the Holland
II and Holland III prototypes.
The Royal Navy 'Holland 1' is on display at the
Submarine Museum, Gosport, England |
Death
After spending 57 of his 74 years working with
submersibles, John Philip Holland died on 12 August 1914 in Newark, New
Jersey. Holland is interred at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New
Jersey.
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