The founder of the Holland Torpedo Boat Company was John P. Holland, an Irish emigrant to America. He had long had an interest in submarines - seeing them as a means of demoralizing, or even destroying, the English Fleet. His first submarine design was for a one-man boat, 16 feet long, the propeller being mechanically driven by the occupant.
By 1893, development of the working submarine was well advanced, and the US Naval Board recognized that there was a place for the submarine in naval warfare, and laid down a set of requirements for naval submarines. These requirements were met by a boat of Holland's design, and in 1895 he was awarded a contract to build a submarine boat for the US Government.
Development proceeded rapidly from here, and the design
