alt Hacker NewsAround 1900. They were held in very dubious regard in the early days of development.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1941/january/chap...
On British naval luminary compared submarine warfare to piracy, leading to the emergence a few years later of a tradition of Royal Navy submarine captains flying the Jolly Roger after completing successful missions.
Britain had the biggest navy in the world at that point, it didn't need to be the first to adopt the submarine.