The Incredible Story of the H.L. Hunley: The World’s First Successful Combat SubmarineImagine a 40-foot iron tube, barely taller than a man is wide, powered by seven sailors hand-cranking a propeller while their commander peers through a tiny conning tower. That was the CSS H.L. Hunley — a desperate Confederate innovation born during the Civil War siege of Charleston. On the moonlit night of February 17, 1864, the Hunley made naval history. Slipping silently through the waters off Sullivan’s Isl