Peral submarine (electric torpedo submarine)
Submarino Peral (submarino eléctrico torpedero)
- Date
- 1888-1890 · confidence high
- Place
- La Carraca Arsenal, San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain
- Credited to
- Isaac Peral
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A steel-hulled submarine launched at La Carraca on 8 September 1888, with fully electric propulsion from batteries, a bow torpedo tube and a maximum depth of about 30 m. It passed dive and torpedo-launch trials until 1890, but the Navy discarded it.
Contemporary with the submarines of Goubet (France), Nordenfelt and Holland (USA); being the “first” electric submarine with torpedoes is a Spanish claim that is debated because of the limited effectiveness of the trials and the lack of evidence of long-range autonomous navigation.
What it led to
- a demonstration of the viability of the electric submarine with torpedoes
- a political and technical controversy that halted the programme in 1890
- later recognition of its role as a precursor of the modern submarine