‘FROM LISCANNOR TO SUBMARINER – JOHN PHILIP HOLLAND’

John Philip Holland is the Irishman and engineer who invented the modern day submarine. Born in Liscannor, Co. Clare, J.P. Holland dedicated his life and efforts to the design and research of all things submarine, and was determined to see his ideas and vision realised. While he began his working life as a teacher, it was ill health that forced him to retire and immigrate to the US where he pursued his ambition to engineer the perfect submarine. He faced much rejection in the course of his life, as time and time again his plans and prototypes were rejected by the US Navy. After many years of experiments, significant investment and single mindedness, he did indeed see his submarines accepted and finally adopted by the US Navy and Royal Navy.