Running head: Human Factors Analysis of the Positives and Negatives of the Civil War 1 Submarine in The Hunley

Human Factors Analysis of the Civil War Submarine in The Hunley Aileen S. Liu Florida Institute of Technology

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley Abstract This movie takes place in 1864, where one of the first vessels of its kind is being tested and ultimately deployed during the Civil War against the Norths naval military in Charleston, South Carolina. This vessel/boat is a submarine, more accurately the CSS Hunley, which is manually propelled by its 9 men crew. This submarine ultimately was the first submersible

vessel to sink an enemy boat in time of war. Although the CSS Hunley accomplished its mission, the crew was unable to take part in this great victory with the Souths militia[1]. The point of this paper is to address the human factors and analyze the positives and negatives with this submarine. This will identify the good and the bad aspects of this manmachine system, it will identify the environmental hazards associated with this man-machine system, describes the man-machine/human factors aspects of the positives and negatives of the man-machine system, and aspects/hazards gathered are justified with solid human factors information and outside references.

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Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley Human Factors Analysis of the Civil War Submarine in The Hunley The Hunley was the first submarine to accomplish the task of sinking an enemy boat, although it came with the consequence of killing its crew. Even though this submarine was a

break through in naval vessels and wartime fighting, it had bad aspects as well. For the crew, the Hunley presented many problems, not only did the boat leak, it was cramped, didnt have access to fresh oxygen and was dimly lit; this is only a few of the many problems with this beginning design. And the fact that even the engineer who built it called it to look partially like a piece from an old steam tower has to be something to be said about the vessel. A submarine can float because the weight of water that it displaces is equal to the weight of the ship. This displacement of water creates an upward force called the buoyant force and acts opposite to gravity, which would pull the ship down. Unlike a ship, a submarine can control its buoyancy, thus allowing it to sink and surface at will. To control its buoyancy, the submarine has ballast tanks that can be alternately filled with water or air. When the submarine is on the surface, the ballast tanks are filled with air and the submarine's overall density is less than that of the surrounding water. As the submarine dives, the ballast tanks are flooded with water and the air in the ballast tanks is vented from the submarine until its overall density is greater than the surrounding water and the submarine begins to sink.[1] Well in the Hunleys situation the ballast tanks was operated by only a lever, and the depth could only be determined by a thermometer looking device tacked on at the bow of the vessel; at least the depth could be some what measured and maintained by the crew. A submarine has movable sets of short "wings" called hydroplanes on the stern (back) that help to control the angle of the dive. The hydroplanes are angled so that water moves over the

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley

stern, which forces the stern upward; therefore, the submarine is angled downward.[1] Although the Hunley had the ability to dive the crew had no control over the angle of the dive itself. A state-of-the-art submarines life support is maintained by three main aspects: the air quality, fresh water supply and temperature. In the Hunley, which is far from a current day design, air quality was non-existent one the crew closed both openings to the vessel, especially after the vessel dove the crew had no ability to access fresh air with out giving away their position and coming up from the dive. Now from the movie only one scene alleviated to what the crew did for a water source, it was a quick scene but evident; the crew only had a small canteen bottle for water for the nine crew members the vessel held, and some times the vessel went on long excursions as far as two miles. This leads to other questions such as how the crew were able to alleviate themselves. A small bucket placed in the vessel was used as the wc (water closet) for the crew and when the hull shifted or was unbalanced the bucket could spill and splash into the work area of the crew if not on the crewmates themselves. Temperature in the Hunley was very unseemly from scenes where the sweating buckets from the heat of the south beating down on the hull and just from the air being trapped inside the hull that was already over breathed. Although most of the crew was from the south and used to ungodly hot temperatures, being trapped inside a small vessel barely big enough to fit all nine crew members is more than anybody could take for long periods of time. Regarding how the crew even fit in the submarine, they sat next to each other hunched over to push the hand crank used to propel them forward or backwards. This position had to be hard to endure with the amount of time they were inside especially with breathing only the recycled air since they were under water and that since it was hand cranked propulsion they werent getting

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley anywhere to quickly. This physical exertion from the propelling and the stance they had to sit in were well then inhibiting their cognitive functions after so long. The scene when the captain decided to see how much oxygen was trapped inside after the hull was submerged, affected the entire crew and every aspect of their abilities as humans. The captain submerged himself and the crew for hours at the bottom of the river and found out that

they hull could hold, I believe, four hours of air time for the entire crew. But look what they had to go through before the crew realized they were out of air, what the effects had on their physical and mental state, and what proper care should have been.

1. The crew were sweating every ounce of water from their bodies because of the heat a. Exercising in the heat is all about hydration, but drinking fluids during exercise in hot weather actually does very little to prevent the body's core temperature from rising[3] 2. The crew trying to rehydrate themselves with the one and only source of water, a canteen bottle a. During exercise: Drink one-half to one cup every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise[4] 3. The crew having faint breathing, because of the air becoming mostly carbon dioxide and not being able to convert back into oxygen a. If the level of oxygen in an individual's body is too low, mild to severe complications can occur. The person may experience fatigue and have a grayish blue skin hue. The primary symptom of low oxygen, however, is shortness of breath[5]

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley 4. The crew having hazy and blurry vision because of the lack of oxygen to their brain a. The primary symptom of low oxygen, however, is shortness of breath. This may be accompanied by dizziness, fainting or disorientation[5] 5. At the end of the oxygen one of the crew members literally going crazy/having a panic attack from the lack of oxygen and his anxiety, stress, and claustrophobia finally over came his physical and mental self a. A panic attack is a period of incredibly intense, often temporarily debilitating, sense of extreme fear or psychological distress, typically of abrupt onset. The feeling of fear in the body can be so intense it may even be borderline painful[6]

After all those incidences, and the crew realized that they should probably surface quickly or they would probably suffocate, the ballast lever had weeds clogging it up which if they hadnt cleared in time it would have been their demise. The ballast system, while trying to find out how much air the hull held, somehow got clogged with plantation from the river and the crew had quite a fright trying to empty the ballasts to rise and couldnt. The submarine engineer acted quickly and opened the lever prop to clear the residuals left in the system, and thankfully did clear it in time to surface without the crew suffocating.

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley Conclusions: Human Factors Analysis of the Civil War Submarine in The Hunley

From this movie, although not an aviation circumstance, human factors is involved. Manmachines no matter what time, year, or century will always have occurrences. As seen from a vessel that was built over a century and five decades ago had many human factors involved not only from the system but from the crew as well. Through the decades each human factor has been analyzed and submarines have been designed to further evaluate and adapt to these bad aspects. This occurs with any system being adapted and changed to acclimate to the human factors observed. That is ultimately why building systems or observing any type of man-machine in any scale, trial or in-action, human factors is significantly involved.

Human Factors Analysis of The Hunley References:

1. Brain, Marshall, and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.. "How Submarines Work" 17 August 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/enginesequipment/submarine.htm> 6 October 2012. 2. "H. L. Hunley (submarine)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_%28submarine%29>. 3. "The Truth About Hydration in the Heat." Active.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The-Truth-About-Hydration-in-the-Heat.htm>. 4. "Drink Up! How Much Should You Drink?" Drink Up! How Much Should You Drink? N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://www.healthdiscovery.net/articles/drink_up.htm>. 5. Thibodeaux, Wanda. "Normal Oxygen Level of a Person." EHow. Demand Media, 08 Sept. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/about_5394563_normal-oxygenlevel-person.html>. 6. "Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder - Crystalinks." Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder Crystalinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://www.crystalinks.com/panicdisorder.html>.