Preserving the H.L. Hunley

By Warren Lasch

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Source Credit: Wiki Media

When Senator Glenn McConnell asked me to serve as Chairman of Friends of the Hunley in 1996, I had no idea where that path would take me. Over the next nine years, I became immersed in the project, learning not only the amazing history of the Civil War submarine, but also much of the science behind preserving an iron vessel that had spent more than 130 years submerged in salt water and silt.

Salt water will preserve iron as long as the material remains submerged, and silt further protects it. As soon as iron makes contact with air, however, the rapid process of oxidation begins. In some cases, when salvagers have removed old cannonballs from the sea, they have spontaneously combusted because of the heat associated with rapid oxidation. Metal shavings from some rivets on the Hunley became so hot they burned through the plastic bags containing them.

Another problem following iron preservation in saltwater is the chloride penetration. While in the water, the chlorides penetrate the metal. When removed from the water and exposed to air, those chlorides crystallize and expand the iron’s surface, causing it to flake away.

In order to remove the chlorides from the Hunley’s metal, conservators placed the submarine in a 55,000-gallon bath of chilled fresh water, where they desalinated the iron using electricity. According to Paul Mardikian, the Hunley’s senior conservator, without this process, the Hunley would have reverted to a pile of iron flakes shortly after its excavation.

Confederate Navy Used Innovation, Imagination in Staking Its Claim against U.S. Powerhouse, Part 2

By: Warren Lasch

In order to gain the element of surprise in fighting the Northern forces at sea, the Confederate Navy devised several new technologies. When Union troops abandoned the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, they failed to set fire to the buildings and ships left behind, and the South gained not only drydocks needed to build new ships, but also the partially burned screw frigate named the USS Merrimack. The Naval Secretary of the Confederate States conceived a plan to raise the Merrimack and armor it with panels made of thick oak and iron. The ship, renamed the CSS Virginia, proved effective in breaking the Union blockade when it was used for that purpose.

The navy of the Confederacy also strove to perfect submarines for use in battle. The first submarine known to be used for that purpose was the Turtle, which was used with limited success during the American Revolution. Although the Confederate Navy constructed the Bayou St. John Confederate Submarine and the Pioneer, the only submarine to see action during the Civil War was the Hunley, which was actually developed as a privateer ship. The Confederate Army actually gained control of the Hunley in South Carolina, although sailors from the Confederate Navy assisted in piloting her. The Hunley successfully sank the USS Housatonic, but later sank for reasons which to this day remain unknown.

The Confederate forces exhibited great bravery when they launched their response to what they believed were unfair mandates made by the United States. Coming into the war with few resources for obtaining or manufacturing weapons or ships, they supplemented their lack of battle equipment with sheer determination and creativity. Today, the use of armored naval vessels and submarines defends the reunited nation from terrors throughout the world.

About the Author: Warren Lasch is a South Carolina business leader and preservationist dedicated to ensuring the well-being of the state’s historical artifacts for future generations.

Confederate Navy Used Innovation, Imagination in Staking Its Claim against U.S. Powerhouse, Part 1

By: Warren Lasch

When you think about it, the Confederate States of America waged a much more effective series of campaigns against the forces of the Union than one might have predicted when war was declared in 1861. After all, most of the manufacturing might of the United States centered around the northern states on the Eastern seaboard and the Midwest. In addition, while there were forts and arsenals in the South, the government held most of the weapons as well as the facilities for building replacement parts, cannonballs, bullets, and supply requirements for operations in the North. Moreover, most of the population of the United States lived in northern states and the Union was inviting them in by the thousands, giving the Yankees a seemingly unending source of manpower.

While the soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy had great heart and courage, and believed in their cause, they started their war trying to figure out how to overcome the might of the Union Army and the Union Navy. Especially regarding naval power, the leaders of the Confederacy faced a tremendous uphill battle. The Confederate States Navy never possessed the mighty warships of the Union Navy. In fact, while the Union sent 90 ships to fight in the early battles of the Civil War, the South relied upon a fleet that included just 30 ships. Only 14 of those vessels were sea-worthy. As such, the sailors of the Confederacy for the most part focused on defense rather than staging elaborate attacks.

During most of the war, the Union Navy maintained a presence around the major ports of the South, carrying out a blockade to stop the flow of goods into the South and prevent the South from exporting any of its own products. The blockade made it extremely difficult for the South to raise money, and crops such as sugar cane and cotton worth millions of dollars languished unsold in warehouses. In many instances later in the war, crops would wither in the fields because of a lack of manpower to harvest it, and Union soldiers plundered the crops or set fire to them as a way of undermining the South’s determination to continue its fight.

About the American Trucking Associations

by Warren Lasch

During my tenure as the President of Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC, I belonged to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), an organization dedicated to representing members of the trucking industry. Established in 1933, ATA stands as the trucking industry’s largest national trade association.

ATA works with a federation of other trucking groups to represent the industry’s more than 37,000 members. ATA’s membership roster includes representatives from all motor carrier types in the United States. ATA speaks for the needs, safety, and careers of federation members from 50 affiliated state-trucking associations; the organization also participates in conferences concerning industry topics and issues.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, ATA is spearheaded by Bill Graves, ATA President and CEO and the former Governor of Kansas. Like his predecessors, Graves works to benefit ATA members by representing the trucking industry’s interests, advocating actions on state and federal government levels, bettering the industry’s image, and providing educational resources that help ATA members improve themselves and their careers.

ATA understands the importance of the trucking industry and its members, operating according to the trucking adage, “If you bought it, a truck brought it.” According to ATA statistics, trucks in the United States haul almost 100 percent of consumer goods and 69 percent of the country’s freight tonnage. In advocating for the industry as a whole, the ATA champions better conditions and laws for, and the overall image of, the industry.

About the author:

Previously the President of Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC, the recently retired Warren Lasch now serves as Vice-Chairman of the company. Over the course of his career, Warren Lasch established the Bavarian Motor Transport and Tri-Star Motor Transit Company subsidiaries, as well as numerous advanced transportation methods.

An Early History of the Submarine

[Posted at Wikimedia Commons]

by Warren Lasch

With a longtime interest in Civil War history and mechanical invention, I was privileged to serve as Chairman of Friends of the Hunley from 1996 to 2005. The organization is committed to the examination and preservation of the world’s first submarine successfully deployed in battle.

Interest in the principles of submersible vessels began in 1580, with the publication of English innkeeper William Bourne’s treatise describing a possible method of submersing a watertight vessel, making it heavier than the weight of water it displaced. Far from envisioning military applications, Bourne simply saw the vessel as a means of reaching the bottom of the sea.

In 1620, Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel designed the first documented submarine for James I of England. Essentially a decked-over rowboat that used 12 oarsmen, the vessel successfully made a journey on the Thames River at a depth of 15 feet. As with modern submarines, Drebbel’s vessel is thought to have been designed with nearly neutral buoyancy so that forward momentum would drive it underwater. When the oarsmen ceased rowing, the vessel would slowly rise to the surface.

The mid-16th century witnessed the design and construction of the 72-foot Rotterdam Boat, the first submersible vessel designed for military purposes. The Frenchman De Son designed the vessel for the Netherlands to attack the English Navy. Basically a submerged ram, it was supposed to punch through the hull of an unaware enemy ship. Fortunately for the British, the vessel’s spring-driven clockwork mechanism, designed to turn a central paddle wheel, generated almost no power, rendering the vessel useless.

The first submarine utilized in an attack on an enemy warship was designed in 1775 by Yale graduate David Bushnell for the American Revolutionary cause. The one-man Turtle was designed to be towed to the vicinity of a British ship, at which point a foot-operated valve would allow enough water in for the vessel to sink. Subsequently, a system of vertical and horizontal propellers was cranked by hand, allowing the submarine to reach the ship’s hull. A forward drill was to breach the hull and affix a 150-pound keg of gunpowder regulated by a timed detonator. Unfortunately, Sergeant Ezra Lee’s 1776 New York Harbor attack failed when the drill would not penetrate the hull of what was likely the HMS Eagle. Lee grew disoriented, and the vessel came to surface, at which time he was spotted but made a successful getaway.

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About the Author: Warren Lasch serves as the Vice Chairman of Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC, a firm dedicated to quality enclosed vehicle transportation.

Warren Lasch on South Carolina and the Civil War

As Chairman of the team that excavated the H.L. Hunley, a historic Civil War-era submarine that sank in the Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864, and was not discovered until May 3, 1995, I am deeply interested in Civil War history and the role of South Carolina in the conflict.

 

South Carolina’s fierce commitments to the preeminence of states’ rights and the institution of slavery predated the war by many years. Politicians like John C. Calhoun and Preston Brooks called for the secession of South Carolina from the United States years before the state formally seceded on December 20, 1860, becoming the first state to do so. South Carolina played a pivotal role in the Civil War, and the first shots of the war were fired nearby Charleston at Fort Sumter. On April 12, 1861, in the Charleston Harbor, South Carolina secessionists successfully wrested the island base of Fort Sumter from the United States troops stationed there.

 

Throughout the war, South Carolina served as a major source of troops for both armies, with the majority of the white residents joining the Confederacy, and the majority of the freed former slaves forming regiments in the Union army as the war progressed and more and more men and women were liberated.

 

Though the Southern soldiers generally did not possess as much naval experience as members of the Union army, the Confederacy did win a major naval victory in February 1864 when the H.L. Hunley destroyed the Union ship the USS Housatonic, marking the first time in history a submarine had sunk an enemy warship. All crew of the H.L. Hunley were lost after the vessel sank under mysterious circumstances immediately following the history-making attack.

 

Just as South Carolina played a pivotal role in the start of the Civil War, so it also figured prominently in the end of the war. The Confederate soldiers evacuated Charleston in February 1865, and on the 21st, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first official black regiments formed after the Emancipation Proclamation, marched into the city and raised the Union flag over Fort Sumter.

Warren Lasch on How to Lower Your Golf Score

An accomplished motor transport executive and Civil War history enthusiast, Warren Lasch enjoys playing golf in his free time. There are many ways to improve your game and lower your score. Practice makes perfect, as the old maxim goes, but golf also features a number of elements that allow players to lower their scores by working on a closed skill set.

Golf Scorecard

As many experienced golfers will tell you, the short game is one of the most important and difficult aspects of the sport. Defined as everything within 50 yards of the pin, the short game encompasses skills such as sand shots, chipping, and putting. With sand shots and chipping, a golfer can significantly improve his or her score by getting a feel for the range of clubs and learning how to read greens and hole locations. Overshooting or undershooting the green results in an extra chip to set up a putt, which often means an extra stroke on the hole. Once a golfer becomes confident in his or her short iron game, he or she can begin to place the ball more accurately on the green and reduce the number of additional chip shots and three-putts.

In terms of putting, many golf pros are quick to remind you that a 5-foot putt counts the same as a 250-yard drive. By striving to take no more than 2 putts on every green, a golfer can reduce his score by 5 to 10 strokes per round. As with chipping, it is important to take note of the topography of the green to avoid making putts that catch a downhill slope and roll away from the cup.

On drives and approaches, it is a natural instinct to want to play the hole aggressively, a tactic that often results in difficult lies and even out-of-bounds shots. By learning when to play a hole assertively and when to lay up for a clean shot at the green, one can minimize the variance in his or her score and begin to lower it at a consistent rate.

All About Warren Lasch

Warren Lasch is the recently retired President and current Vice-Chairman of Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC, located in Okemos, Michigan. For 15 years, Mr. Lasch has been a part of the Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC family, providing general governance and strategic planning while overseeing corporate growth and development. During his time with Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC, Warren Lasch has grown the company and improved operations by introducing the original notion of enclosed vehicle deliveries while creating and developing successful contract and specialized motor carriers.

Additionally, Warren Lasch advanced Truck Safety activities on both a state and national level, developed solutions to distribution problems within the food bank network, and increased revenue at Precision Motor Transport Group, LLC from USD $3.2M in 1992 to USD $70.2M in 2008. Mr. Warren Lasch is a native of Ohio. Warren graduated from Saint Joseph High School in Cleveland and later attended John Carroll University in University Heights.

As an undergraduate at John Carroll University, Warren Lasch studied Business Management to obtain his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Mr. Lasch is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. Warren Lasch is formerly the Chairman of the Friends of the Hunley, Inc., having served from 1996 until 2005.

As Chairman of the Friends of the Hunley, Warren Lasch won many awards and honors, including South Carolina’s highest civilian award, The Order of the Palmetto. Additionally, Warren Lasch is a recipient of the Christopher Gadsden Award, given by the Maritime Association of the Port of Charleston; the Legacy Award from the Civil War Preservation Trust in Washington, D.C.; the Virginius Dabney Award from the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond VA; and the Horace L. Hunley Award from the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

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