John Philip Holland (1841-1914) was born In Ireland and emigrated United States when he was 33.
In 1875, Holland sent the U.S. Navy this design for an experimental 15 1/2-foot long torpedo boat but failed to interest the US Navy. In 1988, Holland entered United States navy submarine competition with the improved design. Subsequently he won the competition but not the contract.
Entered and winning the competition for the second time in 1893, he then established the Holland Torpedo Boat Company to produce Holland Class boats for the US Navy.
Holland continued to improve his invention and on October 12, 1900, the U.S. Navy commissioned the first true submarine, the 64-foot USS Holland.
In 1899, Holland Torpedo Boat Company merged with the company that built the batteries and motors to form the Electric Boat Company.
Since 1899 when the then Holland Torpedo Boat Company, first demonstrated that a vessel could be successfully and consistently controlled both on the surface and under the water, a never-ending quest for improving the means of propulsive power was started.
Electric Boat gained a reputation for unscrupulous arms dealing in 1904-05, when it sold submarines to Japan's Imperial Japanese Navy and Russia's Imperial Russian Navy, who were then at war.
General Dynamics was officially established on April 24, 1952, when the shareholders of Electric Boat Corporation, a company based in Washington and New York States, followed the recommendation of its president and chief executive officer, John Jay Hopkins, and voted to change the company's name.
Holland Torpedo Boat Company – Developing the first submarine for US Navy
