History of Submarines - Early Submarines in Latin America

Early Submarines in Latin America

The Submarino Hipopótamo was the first submarine in South America built and tested in Ecuador on September 18, 1837. It was designed by Jose Rodriguez Lavandera, who successfully crossed the Guayas River in Guayaquil accompanied by Jose Quevedo. Rodriguez Lavandera had enrolled in the Ecuadorian Navy in 1823, becoming a Lieutenant by 1830. The Hipopotamo crossed the Guayas on two more occasions, but it was then abandoned because of lack of funding and interest from the government. Today, few engravings and a scale model of the original design is preserved by the Maritime Museum of the Ecuadorian Navy.

The "Flach", was commissioned in 1865 by the Chilean government during the war between Chile and Peru against Spain (1864–1866). It was built by the German engineer Karl Flach. The submarine sank during tests in Valparaiso bay on May 3, 1866, with the entire eleven-man crew.

In 1879, the Peruvian government, during the War of the Pacific commissioned and built a submarine. That was the fully operational Toro Submarino, which nevertheless never saw military action before being scuttled after the defeat of that country in the war to prevent its capture by the enemy.