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Submarines The first successful underwater craft was a leather-encased wooden rowboat, built by the Dutch Cornelis Van Drebbelin the 1620’s. It carried 12 oarsmen and several passengers in a series of trips lasting several hours. It used air tubes supported on the surface of the water by floats to recycle the oxygen supply while the boat was underwater. The first submarine to be used in war was an egg-shaped craft, which only carried one person. The American engineer David Bushnell invented it in