Almirante Simpson was a unique design of torpedo gunboat, built by the British shipyard Laird Brothers.

[Note 1] In 1895, construction began at the British shipyard Laird Brothers, in Birkenhead, of a torpedo gunboat for the Royal Navy to be called Lion.

[10] The Almirante Lynch-class carried out the world's first successful attack with self-propelled torpedoes, sinking the ironclad Blanco Encalada at the battle of Caldera Bay during the Chilean Civil War of 1891.

[5] On 22 March 1897, she sailed from Plymouth to Chile as part of the great fleet of new ships ordered by the Chilean government in 1895, which was commanded by Admiral Luis A.

During the year 1898 she participated in the intense period of naval training with the fleet, due to the situation of maximum tension between Chile and Argentina.

Also acquired in the context of the arrival in Ecuador of the Chilean Naval Mission (1905–1916), which had the function of organizing the navy and turning it into a professional institution.

[15] In that month the torpedo ship arrived in Guayaquil and, upon being received by the naval commander of the Guayas District, she was renamed Libertador Bolívar by decree of President Alfaro.

[17] In 1909, Libertador Bolívar helped in the transfer of artillery from Guayaquil to Punta de Piedra, to fortify the area.

[18] In 1910, during the military tension between Ecuador and Peru, she was enlisted for war and embarked President Alfaro to the conflict zone in the El Oro Province.

[19] In that year the Ecuadorian Civil War of 1913–1916 broke out, so the government of Leónidas Plaza prepared the ship to leave for the conflict zone in the Esmeraldas Province, where the rebel forces led by Carlos Concha were located.

Libertador Bolívar was initially commanded by Chilean Captain Roberto Stone and later by Ecuadorian Lieutenant Luis F. Auz.

She had an important role in the transport of troops, the blockade of the coast, in the two bombardments carried out at the port of Esmeraldas in 1913 and 1914, in the amphibious landings, among other military actions.