Under the sea in a boat? Unterseeboot!

Ever since the was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt had a vested interest in submarines. The CSS Hunley from the American Civil War gave credence to the idea of an underwater boat, and by the time he had become President they were a promising new mode of warfare. The ongoing development of both the USS Adder and USS Moccasin, but it was the USS Plunger that first caught TR’s eye. In August of 1905, the Plunger was brought to New York City for a series of test dives near the Roosevelt family’s Oyster Bay home.  On August 24, the submarine’s commander, Lt. Charles Preston Nelson, lunched with the president. Edith and their three younger children had planned to watch the trials from the presidential yacht, the Sylph, the following day, but stayed indoors due to heavy rain. Despite warnings for his safety, TR was on board the submarine from 3:30 until after 6:00 P.M. He inspected equipment, watched procedures like rapid underwater U-turns , and briefly took the controls himself, taking the vessel to a depth of 40 ft. Responding to a friend, Ambassador Speck von Sternberg, Roosevelt relayed his experience: I myself am both amused and interested as to what you say about the interest excited about my trip in the Plunger. I went down in it chiefly because I did not like to have the officers and enlisted men think I wanted them to try things I was reluctant to try myself. I believe a good deal can be done with these submarines. At this time, the Germans Empire had made fleeting forays with U-Boats. The doctrine of the day as set out by Admiral von Tirpitz was that giant battleships were cool as shit, thusly the High Seas Fleet was built. Only when Krupp received an order for three Karp-class U-boats from Russia, did Tirpitz order one submarine. Said sub wasn’t finished until late 1906, while Roosevelt’s plunge was a year and some change earlier. Be it Russia looking into subs or TR diving in one, the Kriegsmarine was then incensed to invest in a U-Boat fleet. Source: T.R., The Last Romantic, page 555

Von Sternberg? Is this a relative of Genghis Khan the second?

If Teddy lived today, he would have definitely gone down to the Titanic in the Titan submersible. It probably would have imploded on the next trip.

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