&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:USS_Alligator_0844401.jpg) Contemporary artist's rendering of Alligator
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Alligator |
| Namesake | Alligator mississippiensis |
| Ordered | 1 November 1861 |
| Builder | Neafie & Levy |
| Launched | 1 May 1862 |
| In service | 13 June 1862 |
| Fate | Foundered 2 April 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 47 ft (14 m) |
| Beam | 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) (excluding oars); height of hull 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 1862: 2 knots (3.7 km/h); 1863: 4 knots (7.4 km/h) |
| Test depth | 6.8 ft (2.1 m) |
| Complement | 12 - One officer, one helmsman, one or two divers, and 8 oarsmen |
| Armament | 2 × limpet mines |
USS Alligator, the fourth United States Navy ship of that name, is the first known U.S. Navy submarine, and was active during the American Civil War (the first American underwater vehicle was Turtle during the Revolutionary War, and was operated by the Continental Army, vice Navy, in 1776 against British vessels in New York harbor). During the Civil War the Confederate States Navy would also build its own submarine, H. L. Hunley.