Editing H. L. Hunley (section)

== Armament ==
[[File:CSS David drawing.jpg|thumb|left|Plans of [[CSS David|CSS ''David'']]]]
''Hunley'' was initially intended to attack by using a floating [[Explosive material|explosive charge]] with a [[contact fuse]] (a [[torpedo]] in 19th-century terminology). The Hunley's methodology of deploying the explosive charge consisted of them diving beneath the ship and catching the charge on the side/hull of the vessel and re-emerging outside of the blast range of the explosive. This plan was discredited and not used as the possibility of ''Hunley'' becoming entangled in the rope, the rope drifting away from the ship, or the charge exploding on the submarine was too great.

Instead, a [[spar torpedo]]—a copper cylinder containing {{convert|135|lb|kg|abbr=off}} of [[Gunpowder|black powder]]—was attached to a {{convert|22|ft|adj=on}}-long wooden spar, as seen in illustrations made at this time. Mounted on ''Hunley''{{'}}s bow, the spar was to be used when the submarine was {{cvt|6|ft}} or more below the surface. Previous spar torpedoes had been designed with a barbed point: the spar torpedo would be jammed in the target's side by ramming and then detonated by a mechanical trigger attached to the submarine by a line so that as she backed away from her target, the torpedo would set off. However, archaeologists working on ''Hunley'' discovered evidence, including a spool of copper wire and components of a battery, that it may have been electrically detonated. In the configuration used in the attack on ''Housatonic'', it appears ''Hunley''{{'}}s torpedo had no barbs and was designed to explode on contact as it was pushed against an enemy vessel at close range.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Post and Courier| author=Brian Hicks|title=Rewriting history: Discovery alters legend of doomed sub...|date=27 January 2013|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/archives/rewriting-history-discovery-alters-legend-of-doomed-subhunley-submarine-lifted/article_ebecd2a4-9288-51c7-b6e2-5f26ade4090b.html}}</ref> After Horace Hunley's death, General Beauregard ordered that the submarine should no longer be used to attack underwater. An iron pipe was then attached to her bow, angled downwards so the explosive charge would be delivered sufficiently underwater to make it effective. This was the same method developed for the earlier "[[CSS David|David]]" surface attack craft used successfully against the [[USS New Ironsides (1862)|USS ''New Ironsides'']]. ''The Confederate Veteran'' of 1902 printed a reminiscence authored by an engineer stationed at Battery Marshall who, with another engineer, made adjustments to the iron pipe mechanism before ''Hunley'' left on her last fatal mission on 17 February 1864. A drawing of the iron pipe spar, confirming her "David" type configuration, was published in early histories of submarine warfare.