Flach (submarine)
History | |
---|---|
Chile | |
Name | Flach |
Laid down | 1866 |
Fate | Sank in Valparaiso bay on May 3, 1866 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | ~50 tons |
Length | 12.5 m (41 ft) |
Beam | 2.5 m (8.2 ft) |
Propulsion | pedals |
Complement | 11 |
Armament | 2 cannons |
Flach was the first submarine designed and built in Chile in 1866. It was lost on a test run the same year, and is believed to lie on the seabed of the bay of Valparaiso.
History
The Flach was built in 1866 at the request of the Chilean government, by
Loss
On 3 May 1866, after several days of successful testing, Karl Flach, his son, and nine other Chilean and German crewmen boarded the submarine for another test run. During the test, the submarine sank for unknown reasons; it is now thought to lie at a depth of about 50 meters (164 feet) within the bay of
Present location
The Chilean Navy, with support from others, has searched for the submarine and intends to raise it after finding it, even though there is as yet no agreement on what to do with the remains of the eleven bodies thought to be inside. A finding of an object that appears to be the Flach was reported in El Mercurio de Valparaiso on 25 April 2007.[citation needed] However, the finding has not been confirmed, because, as of August 2007, sediment still has to be cleared away from the object.
See also
References
- ^ "Recovering Chile's 19th Century Shipwrecks in Valparaiso's Port". The Santiago Times. 2006-11-25. Archived from the original on January 24, 2008. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
External links
- Hunt for Chile's first submarine
- Chile to resume search for old sub (Reuters)
- To the Rescue of Flach ((in Spanish) by El Mercurio)
- Submarine History: Age of Sail
- Presentation and video: Submarino Flach (Emol) (in Spanish)
- Armada de Chile (in Spanish)
- Bentos, Servicios y Equipos Marinos (in Spanish)
- Universidad Internacional SEK (in Spanish)
- "Rescate del primer submarino chileno" (in Spanish)
- "La tragedia del primer submarino chileno" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- History of submarines Archived 2014-07-02 at the Wayback Machine