Meliton Manuel Carvajal Ambulodegui , was born in Lima on March 10, 1847. He studied at the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe National College, later moving on to the Military Naval College (1860), where he graduated three years later as a midshipman. With the rank of frigate lieutenant he joined the crew of the ship General Plaza in 1864. , later being assigned to the frigate Apurímac , on board of which he was assigned to fight the uprising initiated in Arequipa by Mariano Ignacio Prado. Promoted to second lieutenant he serves on the frigate Amazonas as an assistant to Rear Admiral Juan José Panizo, under whose orders he participated in an inspection trip during which a pronouncement was made (June 1865) against the government of General Juan Antonio Pezet. Because he disagreed with such a measure, Melitón Carvajal once again became part of the Apurímac crew. , being separated from the service when the so-called restorative revolution triumphed.
On the occasion of the combat of May 2, 1866, Melitón Carvajal joined the steamship Tumbes as a volunteer. and given his outstanding intervention, he is promoted to first lieutenant. After the conflict, he teaches descriptive geometry and spherical trigonometry at the military naval college; in 1867 he joined the official status of the steam Meteoro and the following year he is assigned to the captaincy of the port of Islay. He later held a similar position in the river port of Iquitos (1869) and commanded the gunboat Ñapo he explores the Alto Marañón and Alto Huallaga rivers to determine their navigability and potential for becoming regional marketing hubs. He is promoted to lieutenant commander (1870) and teaches at the naval school that operates aboard the steamer Marañon . In 1871, integrating the crew of the frigate Apurímac , Melitón Carvajal signs the historic manifesto of the navy against the dictatorship of Colonel Tomás Gutiérrez. Later, as deputy director of the Naval school, he directed the students' practice trips and joined a commission to survey the guano deposits on the coast (1875-1876). From 1877 to 1879 he served as deputy director of the Navy department at the Ministry of War.
Declared the war of the Pacific, he embarks as frigate captain aboard the Huáscar on May 16, 1879, concurring in the breaking of the blockade of Iquique, the bombardment of Antofagasta and the second combat of Iquique. He is wounded and taken prisoner at Angamos, obtaining his release through an exchange.
Meliton Carvajal after the Angamos battle
In 1880 Melitón Carvajal is commissioned to Europe to acquire weapons and supervise the construction of the Lima gunboats. and Callao . In 1883 he was elected deputy for Andahuaylas, later holding the direction of Post Office and Telegraphs . In 1890, with the rank of ship's captain, he presided over the mission that traveled to Valparaíso aboard the brand-new gunboat Lima to repatriate the remains of Peruvians who fell in the war. He assumed the Treasury and Commerce portfolio in the government of Remigio Morales Bermúdez (1894) and in 1899 he was appointed prefect of the department of Junín. The following year he directs the military school and is appointed Minister of War and Navy. In 1901 he is promoted to Rear Admiral, presiding over the Superior Council of the Navy and the Hydrographic Commission. He travels to Europe again to supervise the construction of the Almirante Grau cruise ships. and Colonel Bolognesi . He accedes to the second vice presidency of the Republic in the second government of José Pardo and, between 1919 and 1924, he chairs the Peruvian Geographical Society. In 1927 he is promoted to Vice Admiral. Melitón Carvajal died on September 19, 1935 and his remains rest in the crypt of the heroes .