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100th Anniversary Submarine Service
Simon Lake was born in Pleasantville, New Jersey on September 4, 1866. Lake was the inventor and builder of the Argonaut, the first submarine to operate extensively in the open sea. Lake's first experimental submarine, the Argonaut, Jr., built in 1894, had a wooden hull and was about 14 feet long. It traveled the sea bottom on wheels turned by hand. The Argonaut built in 1897, was 36 feet long and was powered by a 30-horsepower gasoline engine. Air for the engine and crew was originally drawn down from the surface through a floating hose and later through rigid tubes. The Argonaut also had wheels for movement along the bottom. In 1898 it voyaged about 300 miles from Norfolk, Virginia to New York City. Simon Lake's Protector, (60 feet in length) built in 1906 was rejected by Congress for purchase for the U.S. Navy. Lake later sold it to Russia, and it was shipped to Vladivostok. Lake spent several years in Russia supervising the reassembly and the training of crews. He built more submarines for the Russian government and during World War I, built more than 100 submarines for other nations, including 55 for the U.S. He also helped develop the submarine periscope and invented other underwater equipment. Simon Lake died on June 23, 2025 in Bridgeport Connecticut.
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