1. Simon Lake was a Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.
11 Facts About Simon Lake
1. 2.
Simon Lake studied at the Clinton Liberal Institute in Fort Plain, New York.
3.
Simon Lake built his first submarine, Argonaut Junior, in 1894 in response to an 1893 request from the US Navy for a submarine torpedo boat.
4.
Simon Lake, lacking Holland's financial backing, was unable to continue building submarines in the United States.
5.
Simon Lake sold Protector to Imperial Russia in 1904 as the Osetr and spent the next seven years in Europe designing submarines for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Germany's Kaiserliche Marine, and the Imperial Russian Navy.
6.
Simon Lake lived in Milford, Connecticut from 1907 until his death in 1945.
7.
Simon Lake advised the United States Navy on submarine technology and maritime salvage during World War II.
8.
Simon Lake was a member, Freemason of Monmouth Lodge No 172 in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.
9.
Simon Lake later affiliated with Ansantawae Lodge No 89 in Milford, Connecticut.
10.
In 1989 Simon Lake was inducted into the Toms River Schools' Hall of Fame.
11.
An Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey street, Simon Lake Drive, at the marina was named in his honor.