Nautilus/Origin

Nautilus was first tested in 1800. Though preceded by Cornelius Drebbel's vessel of 1620, Nautilus is often considered to be the first practical submarine.

The Nautilus was designed between 1793 and 1797 by the American inventor Robert Fulton, then living in the French First Republic. He unsuccessfully proposed to the Directory that they subsidize its construction as a means to balance British seapower. His second, also unsuccessful, proposal to them was that he be paid nothing until the Nautilus had sunk British shipping, and then only a small percentage of the prize money. Fulton directed his next proposal to the Minister of Marine, who granted him permission to build.