A picture of the massive submarine USS Oregon on the front page of The Day in October stirred me to remember our early, dangerous subs and to pay homage to the brave inventor of the modern submarine. No, not John P. Holland, the “Father of Electric Boat.” I’m talking about the irrepressible Simon Lake of Milford, Connecticut.

Lake and Holland were equals in vision and submarine development, yet history seems to relegate Lake to the shadows while revering Holland as the “Father of the Modern Submarine.” That’s not really true.

Lake was confident his sub designs were superior to Holland’s. By the time the Navy called for proposals in the late 1800s, he was already using an air lock to exit his submersible and walk about the seabed, and his diving planes allowed for level descents, both still used today.

Holland and Lake competed for the first Navy submarine contract.

Lake traveled to Washington and submitted plans, but Holland’s partner, lawyer Elihu B. Frost, knew how to play politics. From the start, Lake found himself far out-lobbied and ignored. It was a pattern that would continue.

The Navy awarded its first sub contract in 1895 to the Holland Torpedo Company. Work on the USS Plunger began at the Columbia Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland.

Coincidentally, Lake had received funding from the owner of the same shipyard and began building his submarine, Argonaut, right next to Holland.

Holland was losing faith in the Plunger, feeling the Navy had wreaked havoc on the ship’s performance with their unrealistic design changes. He was right.

The Plunger, launched in 1897, proved of little use to the Navy. But with Frost greasing palms, subsequent contracts still went to Holland.

The Argonaut, also launched in 1897, soon became the first submarine to operate in open water in 1898, traveling from Virginia to New Jersey, receiving worldwide media attention.

Lake established his shipyard in Bridgeport, where he completely rebuilt the Argonaut into Argonaut II. He used the ship to salvage the contents of over 30 sunken vessels, earning considerable wealth.

He continued building submarines and, with the Navy still ignoring him, sold them internationally with great success.

By then, Holland and his patents had been bamboozled by Frost and Isaac Rice, president of the new Electric Boat Company. Holland had created the U.S. Navy’s first submarine force (by hook or by crook, you decide) yet, he was now swept aside.

Being a man of principle, Lake was fed up with politics. He threatened to sue the Navy in 1908 and Congress broke Electric Boat’s monopoly on building subs for the government.

The Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport eventually built 33 submarines for the U.S. Navy.

Simon Lake lived in Milford for thirty-eight years before his death in 1945 at age 78. I recently visited his beautiful home on the town green. An elementary school in town bore his name for 50 years before closing in 2010 (it’s a police training facility today). And the Explorer, Lake’s last submarine, a two-man salvage vessel built in 1936, is still on display at Milford Landing Marina.

John Holland died in near obscurity in 1914 in New Jersey. He was 73 years old.

The Navy eventually honored both men with namesake submarine tenders, now decommissioned.

We have the finest submarine museum in the country in Groton, incorporating undersea history and the USS Nautilus. The only reference to Lake is a bronze plaque for the sub tender.

They remember Simon Lake in Milford, while we shun his achievements here in the “Submarine Capital of the World.”

This courageous visionary, a major contributor to submarine development, deserves so much more.

John Steward lives in Waterford. He can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com.