A starboard quarter view of the Soviet Yankee class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine that was damaged by an internal liquid missile propellant explosion. Three days later the ship sank in 18,000 feet of water

Beginning in ancient times, humans sought to operate under the water. The legendary origins of the submarine stretch back to 332 BC with a tale about Alexander the Great being lowered into the sea in a glass barrel to study fish. The submarine concept was thereafter consigned to the backwaters of history for some 1,800 years. This collection presents various submarines: from small and simple to nuclear-powered underwater behemoths.