page_title: Isaac Peral
section_title: Development of the submarine
hierarchical_section_title: Isaac Peral / Development of the submarine
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of Peral submarine, Cartagena, from right front.
context_page_description: Isaac Peral y Caballero, was a Spanish engineer, naval officer and designer of the Peral Submarine. He joined the Spanish navy in 1866, and developed the first electric-powered submarine which was launched in 1888, but it was not accepted by political authorities, but it was accepted by the naval. He then left the navy to develop other inventions commercially.
context_section_description: Because of his ill-health Peral could not travel any more, so he was given a post in Cádiz, teaching in the new naval school Escuela de Ampliación de Estudios de la Armada. There he found time to pursue his idea of a battery-powered submarine with a system to discharge torpedoes while under water. His main problems were his need for finance to develop and test his inventions, lack of official support, and especially his arrogance when dealing with superiors with less vision.
  Peral's design for a submarine was first conceived on 20 September 1884, when he wrote a paper which would become his Proyecto de Torpedero Submarino ("Project for a submarine torpedoboat").
  After performing several studies and experiments, and having gained support from his superiors and fellow officers, Peral presented his idea to the Spanish navy staff. In September 1885, he wrote a letter to the Spanish naval minister, vice-admiral Pezuela y Lobo. Pezuela y Lobo called Peral to Madrid to have a personal interview with him. After the interview Pezuela y Lobo agreed to finance Peral's preliminary studies in Cádiz with an initial budget of 5,000 pesetas before launching a program to build a full-scale submarine boat. The Peral submarine was the first practical submarine ever made. It was launched on September 8, 1888, and subsequently in a test with naval authorities it successfully made a simulated attack on a cruiser at night without being noticed and returned to port without any damage. The submarine was coastal, however, because it lacked a double-hull and Diesel engine (petrol engines were not reliable at the time). Its performance was hardly equaled ten years later in other submarines. But a second project was rejected by naval authorities. Peral was losing control over his project and getting frustrated. He destroyed the inside of the submarine plus the plans to avoid foreign spies copying it.
caption: The Peral Submarine
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