BMS-42 Almirante Jose Toribio Merino

BMS-42 "Almirante Merino" [BMS = Buque Madre de Submarinos = Submarine Mother-ship] was built in shipyards in Karlskrona, Sweden as a minelayer, and joined the Chilean service as of February 7, 1997, according to resolution No. 4520/12 C.J.A. of 12 March 1997. He sailed to Chile on March 24 of the same year, calling to Valparaiso on May 4. Designed as a Minelayer ship and general support, it was then modified and modernized in Sweden, endowing it with features that allow you to comprehensively carry out the duties as mother ship for submarines. For this it has a large logistics capacity and an efficient system of arms to provide security for the submarine to surface.

After his period of training in port and at sea, the submarine mother ship 'Admiral Merino' sailed on 28 March 2009 from its base in Talcahuano port, kicking off its hydrographic campaign 2009, which took place in the vicinity of the Islands Salas y Gómez with the Mission of the depths in this volcanic area informationto contribute to scientific studies on the continental shelf. During operation time sailed a total of 3,196 nautical miles (5,931 kilometers), determining the depths of the study area, information that is initially processed aboard the ship and then hydrographic service y Oceanográfico de la Armada (SHOA).

After taking part in operation "Loreto", BMS "Merino" made landfall in the afternoon of Tuesday 27 September 2011 to Valparaiso, after little more than two weeks in the Juan Fernandez archipelago. During this period, the ship under the command of the frigate captain David Curotto, performed work of probing in the seabed and supported human teams deployed in the area, such as the tactical divers and salvage of the Navy of Chile, civilian personnel who supported the tasks of diving and personnel of the Navy, due to the collection of the remains of the 21 victims of the aircraft operations stricken last Friday 2 of September. During the "Loreto" operation, in addition to the BMS "Merino", attended the "Almirante Lynch" and "Almirante Condell" frigates with their respective helicopters rescue version, the "Chacabuco", tug "Galvarino" and the port captaincy of Juan Fernandez with his dependent unit LPM 4400 "arcangel".

The plebiscite that would decide the fate of the Pinochet government, as well as a new constitution for the country, was held on September 11, 1980 — the seventh anniversary of the arrival of the military government. It finished with 65.71 percent in favor of the government remaining in power for another eight years. With that outcome, Pinochet became a constitutional president, and the military junta was thereafter headed by Admiral Jose Toribio Merino Castro — the man who actually detonated the September revolution in 1973 (and a man who served in combat with the U.S. Navy in World War II, as a gunnery officer aboard thelight cruiser Raleigh, including against repeated kamikaze attacks off Okinawa).