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Why did George W. Garrettās coal-fired submarine need to extinguish its fire before submerging?
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submarine
The former USS Nautilus, launched in 1954, being towed to Groton, Connecticut, to become a museum, May 1985.
George W. Garrettās coal-fired submarine required the fire to be extinguished before submerging because the combustion process would have exhausted the air supply inside the vessel. To allow for underwater travel, the design relied on the steam that remained in the boilers after the fire was put out.1