Short answers, pulled from the story.
In a single-acting cylinder, the working fluid acts on only one side of the piston; the return stroke relies on the load, a spring, another cylinder, or a flywheel. In a double-acting cylinder, the working fluid acts alternately on both sides of the piston, producing force in both directions of travel.
Internal combustion engines use single-acting cylinders for two main reasons. First, a single-acting arrangement keeps the connecting rod in consistent compression, allowing tighter bearing clearances under the high forces of combustion. Second, the trunk piston design that comes with single-acting cylinders allows lubricating oil to reach the underside of the piston, cooling it and preventing overheating of the piston and rings.
James Watt pioneered the shift to double-acting cylinders when developing a rotative beam engine to drive machinery through an output shaft. Richard Trevithick then refined the approach with his high-pressure engine, which became the model for most steam engines that followed.
The H.O.R. 8-cylinder double-acting diesel engines fitted to USS Pompano were wrecked during trials before the submarine left the Mare Island Navy Yard. Pompano was laid up for eight months until replacement engines were installed in 1938, and those engines were also considered unsatisfactory and replaced by Fairbanks-Morse engines in 1942.
The first Burmeister and Wain two-stroke cycle double-acting diesel engine, rated at 7,000 horsepower, was installed in the British motor vessel Amerika, operated by the United Baltic Company, in 1929.
Early atmospheric engines and beam engines used single-acting cylinders because mine pumping only required force in one direction. The piston's force was transmitted through chains and an arch head on the beam, a design that needed only tension in one direction and worked adequately for raising water.