Stefan Drzewiecki, submarine inventor for the Russian and French navies (1877-1900)

Abstract

This article concerns Stefan Drzewiecki’s naval engineering researches. This civil engineer was born into a rich polish Europeanized family and graduated at the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures in Paris. Inventor in 1877 of a submarine prototype named “Podascaphe”, Drzewiecki pursued the improvement of his concept in terms of propulsion, manoeuvring, speed and autonomy . His first prototypes were mass-produced by the Russian navy, but the lack of interest by the Russian authorities in the early 1890s convinced him to settle in Paris. In 1896, he took part in a competition organized by the French Admiralty for a new type of submarine. The prize he received gave him enough freedom to pursue his activities as an inventor. He subsequently took an active interest in airplanes and conceived a propeller theory that drew him closer to Gustave Eiffel, who was himself involved in aerodynamics, and also collaborated with the Laboratoire aérodynamique d’Auteuil. This Polish engineer died in 1938 after a long career entirely devoted to naval engineering and aviation