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John Philip Holland was born in Ireland in 1841. He emigrated to America where his first successful submarine design was paid for by Irish nationalists seeking Ireland's liberation from Britain. Holland's first experimental submarine convinced his backers to pay for a bigger vessel, which was launched in 1878 and named the Fenian Ram.

In 1900 after decades of struggle and disappointment the US Navy accepted Holland's Type 6 design which one US newspaper described as "Uncle Sam's Devil of the Deep". The Holland Type 6 was the culmination of decades of research and design. The father of the submarine John P. Holland had triumphed at last.

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