Holland, John Philip (1841-1914), an Irish-American inventor, was mainly responsible for the development of the submarine. His vessel, the Holland, built in 1898, proved that the submarine was practical. It provided the model for later submarines.
Holland was born on Feb. 24, 1841, in County Clare, Ireland. He began work on the idea of a submarine while teaching school in Ireland from 1858 to 1872. By 1870, he had completed the first plans for his invention. In 1873, Holland came to the United States. He settled in Paterson, New Jersey, and taught school there. He submitted his submarine plans to the U.S. Navy in 1875, but they were rejected. But the Fenian Society, a group of Irish patriots in the United States who hoped to destroy England’s naval power, became interested. They supported Holland’s experiments and gave him money to build two submarines. His first boat was tested with mixed results in the Passaic River in 1878. His second boat, the Fenian Ram, was launched in 1881. Its success established many basic features of submarines.
In 1888, the U.S. Navy asked Holland to submit submarine plans. Seven years later, it awarded him a contract to build a ship. But this vessel failed, largely because the Navy forced Holland to drop many of his ideas. In order to prove that his ideas were correct, Holland privately built the Holland and launched it successfully in 1898. In 1900, the Navy bought the Holland and asked the inventor to build several more ships like it. Holland’s firm, the Electric Boat Company (now the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation), has continued to build most U.S. Navy submarines. It has also built many submarines for other countries.
Holland resigned from the Electric Boat Company in 1904 and attempted to establish a new firm. However, legal complications blocked the undertaking, and he died in obscurity on Aug. 12, 1914.
