View source for Fenian Ram

{{Short description|Submarine designed for use by the Fenian Brotherhood}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
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{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = [[File:fenianram.jpg|300px|Fenian Ram at the New York State Marine School some time between 1916 and 1927.]]
| Ship caption = ''Fenian Ram'' at the Clason Point Military Academy, Bronx, NY, some time between 1916 and 1927
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United States|civil}}
| Ship name = ''Holland Boat No. II''
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| Ship owner = [[Fenian Brotherhood]]
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| Ship builder = DeLamater Iron Works, New York City for John Philip Holland
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| Ship launched = 1881
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| Ship nickname = ''Fenian Ram''
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| Ship status = [[Museum ship]]
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship class = 
| Ship type = [[Submarine]]
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| Ship displacement = {{Convert|19|LT|t|0|lk=on|abbr=on}}
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| Ship length = {{Convert|9.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam = {{Convert|1.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
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| Ship propulsion = 1 × {{Convert|15|hp|0|abbr=on}} [[Brayton cycle|Brayton]] [[piston engine]], single screw
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| Ship test depth = {{Convert|18|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship complement = 3 (operator, engineer, gunner)
| Ship armament = 1 × {{Convert|9|in|mm|abbr=on}} pneumatic gun
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'''''Fenian Ram''''' is a [[submarine]] designed by [[John Philip Holland]] for use by the [[Fenian Brotherhood]], the American counterpart to the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]], against the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]].  The Fenian Ram was the world's first practical submarine. It was powered by a double acting [[Brayton Ready Motor]] which used kerosene fuel. It was able to dive and submerge successfully.  The ''Ram''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> construction and launching in 1881 by the [[Cornelius H. DeLamater|DeLamater Iron Company]] in New York was funded by the Fenians' Skirmishing Fund. Officially '''''Holland Boat No. II''''', the role of the Fenians in its funding led the [[The Sun (New York)|New York Sun]] newspaper to name the vessel the ''Fenian Ram''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_19/holland2.htm |title=John Holland Father of the Modern Submarine |work=navy.mil |year=2006 |access-date=28 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021174106/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_19/holland2.htm |archive-date=21 October 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Design==
''Fenian Ram''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s design was partly modelled on the [[Whitehead torpedo|Whitehead]] [[torpedo]], and it had similar [[cruciform]] control fins near the tail. The boat did not simply take on ballast until she sank like other contemporary submarines; she maintained a slightly positive buoyancy, and tilted her horizontal planes so that her forward motion forced her under.

''Fenian Ram'' was armed with a {{convert|9|in|mm|adj=on|0}} [[pneumatic gun]] some {{convert|11|ft}} long, mounted along the boat's centerline and firing forward out of her bow. It operated like modern submarine torpedo tubes: a watertight bow cap was normally kept shut, allowing the {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} dynamite-filled steel projectiles to be loaded into the tube from the interior of the submarine. The inner door was then shut and the outer door opened by a remote mechanism. Finally, {{convert|400|psi|MPa|abbr=on}} air was used to shoot the projectile out of the tube. To reload, the outer door was again shut and the water in the tube was blown into the surrounding ballast tank by more compressed air. It was powered by a {{convert|15|hp|abbr=on}} [[Brayton cycle|Brayton]] [[piston engine]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/FenianRam/index.html |title=Holland Submarine Exhibit, Fenian Ram and Submarine No. 1, Paterson Museum N.J. |first=William |last=Maloney |work=williammaloney.com |year=2012 |access-date=28 August 2012 |archive-date=7 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707051618/http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/FenianRam/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Ship history==
[[file:Paterson Museum (NJ) images (45) number 36 Early submarine.jpg|thumb|right|The submarine on display at the [[Paterson Museum]], New Jersey (2016)]]
During extensive trials, Holland made numerous dives and test-fired the gun using dummy projectiles. However, due to funding disputes within the IRB and disagreement over payments from the IRB to Holland, the IRB stole '' Fenian Ram'' and the ''[[Holland III]]'' prototype in November 1883.<ref name="usni_nautilus">Davies, R. ''Nautilus: The Story of Man Under the Sea''. [[United States Naval Institute|Naval Institute Press]]. 1995. {{ISBN|1-55750-615-9}}.</ref>  Although ''Holland III'' accidentally sank in the East River, the Fenians took the ''Fenian Ram'' to [[New Haven, Connecticut]], but discovered that no one knew how to operate it. Holland refused to help. Unable to use or sell the boat, the Brotherhood had the ''Ram'' hauled into a shed on the [[Mill River (Quinnipiac River)|Mill River]].

In 1916, ''Fenian Ram'' was exhibited in [[Madison Square Garden]] to raise funds for victims of the [[Easter Rising]]. Afterwards, she was moved to [[La Salle Military Academy|Clason Point Military Academy]], Bronx, NY. In 1927, the Academy relocated to Long Island and the hull was sold for scrap.  Prior to demolition, Irish-American activist [[Harry Cunningham (activist)|Harry Cunningham]] intervened and purchased the ''Fenian Ram'' from the junkyard in order to preserve it as a symbol of Irish-American ingenuity.<ref>“Devoy Tells Story of First Submarine:  Holland Warship Purchased for Clan-na-Gael, The Original Owners, by Harry Cunningham”, The Gaelic American, New York, 09 July 1927., page 1.</ref>  In September, 1927, Cunningham sold the submarine to Edward Browne of Paterson, NJ, who offered the vessel to the City of Paterson as a memorial to Holland's work.<ref>“Special Meeting of Park Board on the Fenian Ram: Browne Makes Formal Application for a Location in Westside Park”, The Paterson News, 16 September 1927.</ref>  Today, she can still be seen at the [[Paterson Museum]].

Holland started the [[Holland Torpedo Boat Company]] in 1896 after the [[United States Navy|US Navy]] showed interest in the design.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Warnes |first1=Kathy |title=Bakers Boat |url=http://www.hsmichigan.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BakersBoat-ND13.pdf |publisher=Historical Society of Michigan |accessdate=28 August 2018 |archive-date=24 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824013446/http://www.hsmichigan.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BakersBoat-ND13.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Buell |first1=Erica |title=The Great Submarine Contest-pt 1 |url=http://ussnautilus.org/blog/the-great-submarine-contest-pt-1/ |website=Submarine Force Library and Museum Blog |accessdate=28 August 2018 |date=14 December 2017}}</ref><ref>[http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_19/holland.htm Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006110950/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_19/holland.htm |date=6 October 2013 }}, United States Navy. Retrieved 21 December 2015.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px" widths="200px">
File:John_Holland_Fenian_Ram.jpg
File:Operator_seat_inside_the_Fenian_Ram.jpg
File:Brayton_Ready_Motor_compressor_Cylinder_inside_the_Fenian_Ram.jpg
File:Brayton_Ready_Motor_Expander_Cylinder_inside_the_Fenian_Ram.jpg
File:Fenian_Ram_sea_trials.jpg
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[History of submarines]]
*[[Holland I]]
*[[Holland III]]
*[[Holland IV]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Paul |title=The ''Fenian Ram'' |journal=Warship International |date=March 2018 |volume=LV |issue=January 2018 |pages=31–34 |issn=0043-0374}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091026192115/http://geocities.com/gwmccue/  The John Holland Website]
* [http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/FenianRam/index.html Fenian Ram] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707051618/http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/FenianRam/index.html |date=7 July 2012 }} Photos of John Holland's Submarine Fenian Ram at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ
* [http://www.thepatersonmuseum.com/ Paterson Museum] The Paterson Museum Website
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014043444/http://hnsa.org/ships/fenian.htm HNSA Web Page: Fenian Ram]

{{Holland Torpedo Boat Company}}
{{IRB}}
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919)}}

{{Coord|40.91371|-74.17923|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenian Ram}}
[[Category:1881 ships]]
[[Category:Irish-American history]]
[[Category:Irish Republican Brotherhood]]
[[Category:John Philip Holland]]
[[Category:Museum ships in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Naval ships built in the United States for export]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Museums in Passaic County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:History of Paterson, New Jersey]]
[[Category:19th-century submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:19th-century submarines]]