A Little Off Topic But Still Related?

Forumites,
I was watching the TBS production of the C.S.S. Hunley movie last night and was wondering how the Germans got the idea for their U-Boats in WW1. I know that the C.S.S. Hunley was the first "successful" submarine attack on a warship and occurred in 1863. She sank afterward with all hands, and lay undiscovered for over a hundred years until she was located by Clive Cussler in 1995. Plans have been made to raise the Hunley, and the crew will finally be laid to rest with full military honors. Could someone please tell me how the Germans got their interest in the use of submarine technology. Was this another case of "Goddard technology" sold to the highest bidder? By the way in the early years of warfare, even up to the 1st World War, attacking by submarine was considered by the "civilized" nations to be a cowardly way of waging war. Attacking by stealth, from below the water. Surprise is one of the oldest axioms of strategy.
VBR,
Jim