An order for two submarines had originally been placed by Chile in 1911 with the Electric Boat Company of New Jersey. The order was subcontracted to Seattle Construction and Drydock Company for a total of $818,000. The Electric Boat Company then designed and built a boat in a way that could be taken apart and shipped across country to Seattle to be assembled. After sea trials, the submarines now named "Iquique" and "Antofogasta" were refused by the Chilean officials as they had failed to achieve the radius of action demanded in the contract. At the same time, Chile had allowed its progress payments to fall in arrears. This led the Seattle shipbuilding company to find ways to get rid of the submarines.