Frank Taylor Cable was an early pioneer in submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 development and piloted the first United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 submarine during its pre-commissioning trials.

Cable was a qualified electrician and employee of the Electro-Dynamic Company owned by financier Isaac Rice

Isaac Rice

Isaac Leopold Rice was a U.S. inventor and a chess patron and author.- Biography :...

. Rice was a financial supporter of inventor John Phillip Holland whose Holland Torpedo Boat Company was developing a prototype submarine, Holland VI, for the United States Navy.

When Holland VI sank in New York harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

 on 13 October 1897, Cable was dispatched by Rice to assist with the repairs. The submarine's internal components had been flooded with corrosive salt water, leading to short circuits and corrosion. Cable had previously specialised in the design and production of propulsion machinery, including diesel engines and electric motors and was able to co-ordinate repair work and restore the submarine's operations.

Cable was retained as an electrician at Holland's company — while still working for Rice — and made a number of changes to the submarine design. A key proposal of Cable's was to improve the submarine's handling by relocating the rudder

Rudder

A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...

 and stern diving plane

Diving plane

A diving plane, also known as a hydroplane, is a control surface found on submarines which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when submerged....

s aft the propeller

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

. The proposal was accepted and by 4 July 1898 Holland VI was ready for sea trials. Cable was chosen as the civilian trial captain and successfully commanded the vessel during its early operations. Holland VI was purchased by the United States Navy on 11 April 1900 with the initial designation of and the subsequent designation of SS-1. The craft was officially commissioned into U. S. Navy service on 12 October 1900.

Following the commissioning of USS Holland, Cable was engaged to train prospective submarine crews in Britain, Japan and Russia. Upon his return to the United States in 1905, he went on to become a co-founder of the Electric Boat Company, the primary manufacturer of United States submarines in the early Twentieth Century. He was appointed company general manager in 1930 and died in 1945. Cable worked for Electric Boat for nearly 45 years.

In 1978, the submarine tender

Submarine tender

A submarine tender is a type of ship that supplies and supports submarines.Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies, nor to carry a full array of maintenance equipment and...

was named in his honour.

External links

• History of The Electric Boat Company and Frank Cable's role therein. http://www.gdeb.com/about/centennial/eb-100yrs-2.html
• Original site of operations for Electric Boat Company was at Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, New Jersey. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/crescent.htm