History
Independence Wars of Chile and Peru (1817–1830)
The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the development of the Chilean Navy, and the first legal resolutions outlining the organization of the institution were created. Chile's First National Fleet and the Academy for Young Midshipmen (predecessor of the current Naval Academy) were founded, as were the Marine Corps and the Supply Commissary.
The first commander of the Chilean Navy was Manuel Blanco Encalada until Lord Cochrane, formerly a Captain in the British navy, was hired by O'Higgins to be the commander of the Navy, who in turn hired an almost all-anglophone complement of officers and midshipmen, and crews of British, Irish and American seamen. He was a key figure in the war against loyalist forces in Peru. He later took control of the fortresses of Valdivia , but failed in his attempt to conquer Chiloé Island.
In March 1824 the Chilean Navy and Army took again upon the task of eradicate the Spanish monarchy from Chiloé Archipelago . An expedition was disembarked to Chiloé Island which ended in failure when the Chilean Army led by Jorge Beauchef was defeated at the Battle of Mocopulli . Only after Ramón Freire's Chiloé expedition of 1826 did the royalists at Chiloé, led by Antonio de Quintanilla surrender, and Chiloé joined the new Chilean nation.
Age of exploration, territorial expansion and wars (1830–1885)
After the independence wars a series of conflicts consolidated the importance of the Chilean Navy, these conflicts were the War of the Confederation (1836–1839), the Chincha Islands War (1864–1866) and the War of the Pacific (1879–1883). The founding of Fuerte Bulnes in the Strait of Magellan marked the starting point of a series of Chilean Navy explorations, led by navy hydrographers like Francisco Vidal Gormaz and Francisco Hudson , in the unknown zone between the Strait of Magellan and Chiloé . To deal with this new area of activity the navy founded in 1874 the Hydrographic Office whose first director was Francisco Vidal Gormaz.The Chilean war hero and martyr Arturo Prat is regarded as the ultimate example of the commitment of the Navy to its country, after his death while leading a boarding party onto the enemy ironclad Huáscar at the naval battle of Iquique on 21 May 1879, during the War against Peru and Bolivia . The anniversary of this battle is celebrated every year as a public holiday called Día de las Glorias Navales. Prat is also considered to be one of the co-founders of the Naval Seaman Training School in 1868, which began operating a year later, and was one of the Naval Academy's finest graduate officers that in 1943 it became the National Naval School "Arturo Prat" in his honor.
The Navy further distinguished itself during the Battle of Pisagua in 1879, led by both the Navy and the Marine Artillery Groups and Marine Infantry, the world's first modern military landing operation, that resulted in Chilean victories in other parts of Peru's Tarapaca region, and resulted to its annexation by Chile.
After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887 Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888.
With the Peruvian Navy destroyed, Bolivia becoming a landlocked country and Argentina having only a brown-water navy the Chilean Navy had a regional hegemony in the years following the War of the Pacific . To secure this advantage and not letting new Argentine acquisitions challenge Chilean Naval power the Chilean government decided to modernize its navy. The modernization plan included the ordering of two cruisers , two torpedo boat destroyers and the modernization of two armoured ships in English docks.
Civil war and arms race (1885–1915)
The advent of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 saw a breach between the two branches of the Chilean Armed forces, while the bulk of navy sided the congress side the majority of the Chilean Army remained loyal to José Manuel Balmaceda . When the majority of the national congress broke relations with the government Jorge Montt took control of the fleet at Valparaíso and with notable politicians, like Ramón Barros Luco , on board the fleet sailed north to the nitrate-rich Tarapacá area which Chile had seized from Peru ten years earlier. Tarapacá was by that time Chile's richest region in terms of natural resources and was without the fleet practically out of reach for the Chilean Army . From here the navy organized an army made of nitrate miners which they armed and trained to face the 40,000-men strong Army of Chile . On August 1891 the new army was disembarked in Quintero and defeated the Chilean Army at the Battle of Concón and the Battle of Placilla before the presidential faction disbanded and the congressional side took power. On the elections of October 1891 Jorge Montt was elected president.Not all navy officers sided with the congress. Some like Juan Williams Rebolledo, Juan José Latorre and Policarpo Toro remained on the presidential side and Francisco Vidal Gormaz declared his neutrality. After the war these officers were removed from their offices. In contrast to these officers whose career or influence in the navy was truncated by the war, the Chilean Civil War served as a starting point of a successful career in the navy for a generation of young officers like Francisco Nef and others who sided with the congressionals who won the war.
After incidents with Chile in 1872, 1877 and 1878 Argentina had decided that a brownwater navy, even if modern, was not enough to back up its ambitions in Patagonia and the South Atlantic. Both countries were distracted in the next few years by Argentina's internal military operations against natives and Chile's War of the Pacific against Bolivia and Peru, but by 1890 a full-fledged naval arms race was underway between the two. The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina had been a major success in laying the groundwork for nearly all of Chile's and Argentina's 5600 km of shared borders, but the drawing a boundaries in the largely unexplored inland Patagonia soon became a major source of territorial disputes. Over the 1880s and 1890s Chile and Argentina engaged in an arms race fueled by nationalistic rhetoric and tax income from their blooming economies. Both countries signed a treaty in 1902 to end the arms race. However, in 1904 Brazil ordered two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts to be built by the United Kingdom. In response, Argentina ordered two Rivadavia-class dreadnoughts with an option for a third from the United States. They also ordered twelve destroyers from three nations in Europe. With its major rival acquiring so many modern vessels, Chile was forced to respond, though this was delayed by a financial depression brought on by a drastic fall in the nitrate market and a major earthquake in 1907 and 1908, respectively.
During the 1890s the Chilean Navy carried out many hydrographic surveys in the Patagonian channels aimed to improve navigation and explore the river basins of Patagonia. A German geoprapher, Hans Steffen, led navy explorations to western Patagonia, laying the groundwork for colonization of what would be Aisén Region years later. The Navy occasionally collaborated with European naturalists such as Carl Skottsberg in their surveys of Chilean territory.
Present
The 25,000-person navy, including 5,200 Marines, is directed by Admiral Edmundo Gonzalez. Of the fleet of sixty-six surface vessels (soon to be increased to seventy-four), twenty-one are major combatant ships based in Valparaíso . The navy operates its own aircraft for transport and patrol; there are no fighter or bomber aircraft. The Navy also operates four submarines and a tender ship to support them, all based in Talcahuano . The Navy permits the integration of Chile's Pacific and Southern island regions, thus integrating its disjointed geography. The transport of passengers, especially during the school year or in cases of emergency, together with the supply of provisions and fuel, are of key importance to the inhabitants of these insular zones.The Chilean Navy is generally considered to be among the most capable and professional in the Americas and is heavily aligned with significant naval powers such as the United States Navy and several European navies, most notably the British Royal Navy .
The institution regularly carries out civil operations whereby Navy professionals provide social assistance and health care to the civilian population, and provide support in cases of natural catastrophe. It also undertakes preventative education campaigns for Chile's population on issues that include security on beaches and seaside resorts and measures to be taken in the case of a tsunami .
The most important naval bases and supply depots are (from north to south) in the Pacific Ocean : Iquique , Easter Island , Valparaíso , Talcahuano, Puerto Montt , in the Atlantic zone: Strait of Magellan : Punta Arenas , in the Beagle Channel : Puerto Williams , and in Antarctica : Captain Arturo Prat Base. These are now spread into 5 Naval Zones: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Naval Zones.
Wars
The Chilean Navy has been an important component in all international wars fought by Chile, since the Andes and the Atacama desert makes natural barriers difficult to cross. The Chilean Navy has fought the following wars:- Chilean War of Independence against Spain commanded by Lord Cochrane (1810–1826)
- War of the Confederation against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839)
- Chincha Islands War against Spain (allied with Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru) (1864–1866)
- War of the Pacific against Bolivia and Peru. (1879–1883)
- Chilean Civil War (1891)
- Occupation of Araucanía (1861–1883)
- Incidents with Argentina in 1872, 1877 and 1878.
- Chilean naval mutiny (1931)
- Beagle conflict (1950s–1984)
- Chilean coup d'état against the UP government (1973)
- The acquisition of TCD Froude to be baptized in Chile as "Sergeant Juan de Dios Aldea", delivery is expected to be made the first half of 2012. This is the first of two ships the Navy plans to have chile.
- Helicopters and armored amphibians for TCD.
- The construction of another 3 PZM Patrulleros de Zona Marítima PZM , for each zone naval.
