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BAP Abtao

1953 Abtao-class submarine

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 12, 2025
Entity authorityQ4834615
Source-derived summary

BAP Abtao (SS-42) is an Abtao-class submarine of the Peruvian Navy. The vessel which was originally named BAP Tiburón ("Shark"), was constructed by the American Electric Boat company in the United States and launched in 1953. The Abtao class were the last submarines constructed by the United States for the export market. The submarine entered service in 1954 and by presidential decree, was renamed Abtao for the battle during the Chincha Islands War.

Armed with six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes and a 5 in (127 mm)/25 caliber gun, the 243 ft (74.1 m) submarine took part in the rescue of the crew of BAP Pacocha, another submarine that had sunk following a collision with a fishing trawler in August 1988. Abtao was taken out of service in 1999 and converted into a museum ship located in central Callao, Peru. Abtao was the first museum ship in Latin America.

Design and description

The Abtao class were a modified version of the United States World War II Mackerel-class submarine design. Abtao had a surfaced displacement of 825 long tons (838 t) and 1,400 long tons (1,422 t) submerged. It measured 243 ft (74.1 m) long overall with a beam of 22 ft (6.7 m) and a draft of 14 ft (4.3 m).

Editorial summary

“BAP Abtao” enters the record as 1953 Abtao-class submarine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Abtao, Abtao-class and submarine can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 1954, 1988, 1999—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Abtao, Abtao-class and submarine.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“BAP Abtao” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Abtao, Abtao-class and submarine provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4834615. Authority coordinates are -12.060, -77.151. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1954, 1988 and 1999.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “BAP Abtao”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow BAP Abtao primary sources, BAP Abtao archive and Abtao research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from BAP Abtao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.