Acquired by British Columbia at the outbreak of the First World War, the ship had been initially built for Chile as Iquique.

[2] The submarine used Whitehead Mk IV 18-inch (460 mm) torpedoes that had a range of 1,000 yd (910 m) at 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph).

[4][5] The boats could dive 200 ft (61 m) and unlike modern submarines, the main ballast and trim tanks were located internally.

[5] This deal fell through and the boat, along with CC-2, was offered to British Columbia's premier Sir Richard McBride, just nine days before the declaration of war in 1914.

[8][9] On 4 August 1914, the day the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, the boat departed at night (to maintain secrecy from the Chilean, German, and U.S. governments) for handover to British Columbian authorities near Victoria.

[5] The submarine was assigned to the west coast in the home port of Esquimalt, British Columbia, and conducted training operations and patrols for three years.

[13] The Royal Canadian Navy then devised a plan to utilise the two subs in anti-submarine training for the surface vessels.