Chilean submarine Guale

The Chilean submarine Guale was an [British British H-class submarine|H-class submarine|H-class] submarine of the Chilean Navy. The vessel was originally ordered by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy as HMS H18, but was handed over to Chile in 1917 as H4.

Description

Guale was a single-hulled submarine, with a pressure hull divided into five watertight compartments. The submarine had a length of overall, a beam of and a draft of. She displaced on the surface and submerged. The H-class submarines had a crew of 22 officers and enlisted men.
The submarine had two propellers, each of which was driven by a diesel engine as well as a electric motors. This arrangement gave Guale a maximum speed of while surfaced and submerged. She had a range of at while on the surface and at while submerged. The boat had a capacity of of fuel oil. The H-class submarines were equipped with four torpedo tubes in the bow and carried eight torpedoes.

Career

H18 was a H-class submarine built by Fore River Yard of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 14 August 1915. Because the United States was neutral, H18 along with sister ships,,,,,,,, and were all interned by the United States government. As a result, H18 was never commissioned into the Royal Navy. Instead, she and H13, H16, H17, H19, and H20 were transferred to the Chilean Navy as partial recompensation for the appropriation of two 28,000-ton dreadnoughts. Originally named H4 when turned over to Chile in 1917, she was renamed Guale in 1924. She served with the Chilean Navy until she was stricken in 1945.