Protector Submarine 1902
In 1903, Secretary of War and future president William H. Taft requested the building of five submarines to secure our shores after the Protector concluded very successful trials in icy, cold, wintery conditions. But again, there was gridlock in the halls of Washington DC and Congress. This was ten years before World War One.
Simon Lake aboard the submarine boat "Protector", 1902.
The Protector successfully breaking through the ice during US government trials, 1903