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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
Figure 15. Administrative and Operational Structure of the
Navy, 1993
Source: Based on information from Daniel Prieto Vial,
Defensa Chile, 2000, Santiago, 1990, 207.
Chile's long coast contributed to the development of a
distinguished maritime tradition. The Chilean Navy
accordingly has
enjoyed an unusual primacy among the nation's armed
forces, despite
the army's formal status as the senior service. From its
earliest
days, the navy has operated under strong British
influence.
The navy, with a strength of 25,000--including
conscripts and
the Navy Infantry Crops (Marines), Naval Aviation, and
Coast
Guard)--divides the long Chilean coastline into four naval
zones,
headquartered in Iquique, Punta Arenas, Talcahuano, and
Valparaíso
(see
fig. 15). The First Naval Zone (Valparaíso)
corresponds
approximately to the coastal portions of AM 1 and AM 2 and
contains
most of the training establishments. These include the
Arturo Prat
Naval School, the Hydrographic Institute (Instituto
Hidrográfico),
the Naval War Academy (Academia de Guerra Naval), and the
Supplies
and Services School (Escuela de Abastecimientos y
Servicios), all
in Valparaíso, as well as the School of Operations
(Escuela de
Operaciones), the Armaments School (Escuela de
Armamentos), the
School of Naval Engineering (Escuela de Ingeniería Naval),
and the
Marine Corps School (Escuela de Infantería de Marina), all
in Viña
del Mar.
The Second Naval Zone (Talcahuano) corresponds
approximately to
the coastal portions of AM 3 and AM 4 and contains the
main naval
base, the Submarine School (Escuela de Submarinos), the
Seamen's
School (Escuela de Hombres de Mar), and the Naval
Artisans' School
(Escuela de Artesanos Navales), all at Talcahuano. It also
includes
the Chiloé Naval District (Puerto Montt). The Third Naval
Zone
(Punta Arenas) corresponds to the coastal portion of AM 5
and
includes the Beagle Channel Naval District, which is
headquartered
at Puerto Williams. In the early 1990s, a new naval
dockyard was
under construction at Bahía Catalina. The Fourth Naval
Zone
(Iquique) corresponds to the former Northern Naval
District, which
until 1991 formed part of the First Naval Zone and covered
an area
corresponding to the coastal portion of AM 6.
The major operational command is the fleet, which
includes four
missile destroyers, two of which had been converted to
helicopter
carriers. The Submarine Command (La Fuerza de Submarinos)
forms a
separate operational command, with four submarines, a
depot ship,
and a subordinate group of frogmen commandos. The
Transport Force
(La Fuerza de Transportes) also forms an operational
command. In
addition, some minor patrol vessels, auxiliaries, and
service craft
are distributed among the naval zones and districts (see
table 44,
Appendix).
The 3,000 marines of the Navy Infantry Corps are
organized
into four detachments, based in Iquique, Viña del Mar,
Talcahuano,
and Punta Arenas. Each detachment consists of a reinforced
infantry
battalion, a commando company, a field battery, an
antiaircraft
battery, and logistic support units. In addition, there
are some
small embarked detachments, an amphibious assault
battalion, and a
logistics battalion, the latter two based in Valparaíso.
Equipment
is largely the same as that used by army infantry units.
Most of
the Marines' thirty LVTP-5 (landing vehicle, tracked,
personnel)
amphibious-landing vehicles are out of service, and their
Cactus
SAM systems have been disposed of. Amphibious-assault
capability is
confined largely to semirigid, inflatable craft.
Naval Aviation, with 750 personnel and a total of
forty-five
aircraft and forty-two armed helicopters, is organized
into four
squadrons: the General Purpose Squadron VG-1, the
Helicopter
Squadron VH-1, the Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron VP-1,
and the
Training Squadron VT-1. Naval Aviation began a
modernization
process in 1990 with the acquisition of new French and
German
helicopters and United States patrol aircraft. The
principal naval
air base is at Torquemada, twenty kilometers north of Viña
del Mar.
The Torguemada Aeronaval Base has an efficient airport of
1,750
meters and is supported by the Naval Aviation Repair
Center (Centro
de Reparaciones de la Aviación Naval--CRAN). There are
minor bases
at Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams.
The Coast Guard, a component of the General Directorate
of the
Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine (Dirección General
del
Territorio Marítimo y de la Marina Mercante), is an
integral part
of the navy and has 1,500 personnel. The Chilean coastline
is
segmented into thirteen maritime administrations
(gobernaciones
marítimas), comprising a total of forty-six port
captaincies
(capitanías de puerto). The seagoing elements of
the service
consist of two converted fishing vessels (employed
primarily as
buoy tenders), four coastal patrol craft, and ten
high-speed
cutters. There are also eleven inshore patrol craft, in
addition to
numerous small surface skimmers and Zodiac craft used for
inshore
patrol and rescue. The service also operates a floating
medicaldental clinic, mainly in the coastal waters off the Isla
de Chiloé,
and an air-sea rescue launch, based at Easter Island.
Chile assumes responsibility for maritime search and
rescue in
an area extending approximately 4,000 kilometers west of
its
coastline. It maintains search-and-rescue coordination
centers at
Iquique, Valparaíso, Talcahuano, Puerto Montt, and Punta
Arenas. As
none of its vessels is suitable for deep-sea patrol or
rescue work,
the Coast Guard may call on the ships and aircraft of the
navy
proper, in particular its helicopters, for support when
necessary.
The various port captains also maintain and staff
lifeboats for
inshore rescue.
Data as of March 1994
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