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5 September 1914 – the first warship sunk by a torpedo fired by a submarine

The British scout cruiser HMS Pathfinder had the misfortune of being the first ship sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired from a submarine in warfare. To be clear, she was not the first ship sunk by a submarine in combat – which, as history records, was the 1,240-ton American Civil War three-masted screw sloop USS Housatonic. She was blockading the Confederate-held port of Charleston when, on the night of 17 February 1864, she was attacked by the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley. The small 40ft-long Hunley carried a crew of eight: seven to turn the hand-cranked propeller and an officer to navigate and steer. The Hunley made a stealth approach just under the surface towards the Union ship, and although she was spotted on her final approach, was able to ram a spar torpedo attached to her bow into the starboard beam of the Union ship. The Hunley then withdrew, and the torpedo exploded and sent the Housatonic to the bottom. Then the Hunley herself sank with the loss of all hands, for unknown reasons, shortly after the attack.