Almirante Latorre-class battleship
Encyclopedia
The Almirante Latorre class consisted of two battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s (Spanish: acorazados) designed by the British company Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
for the Chilean Navy
Chilean Navy
-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
. Only one, , was finished as a battleship; the other, Almirante Cochrane
HMS Eagle (1918)
HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924...
, was converted to an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
. They were sold to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
prior to completion and renamed Canada and Eagle. Under their Chilean names, they honored the Admirals (Almirantes) Juan José Latorre
Juan José Latorre
Juan José Latorre Benavente Chilean Vice Admiral, one of the principal actors of the War of the Pacific, and hero of the Battle of Angamos.-Early life:...
and Thomas Cochrane
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....
. They took their British names from the dominion
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and a traditional ship name in the Royal Navy
HMS Eagle
Eighteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Eagle, after the eagle.*HMS Eagle was an ex-merchantman purchased in 1592 and in use as a careening hulk. She was sold in 1683....
.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, Chile often instigated or was drawn into naval competition with neighbor Argentina. When Argentina responded to Brazil's order for two dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s with two of its own, Chile felt that it also needed to respond. Despite a strong push from the American government for the contracts, an order for two dreadnoughts was placed with the British, probably due to Chile's traditionally strong ties with the United Kingdom. Prior to completion, Almirante Latorre and Almirante Cochrane were purchased by the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
for use in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Almirante Latorre, which was closer to completion than her sister
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
, was commissioned into British service as Canada in October 1915. She spent her wartime service with the Grand Fleet, seeing action in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
. After the war, she was put into reserve before being sold back to Chile in 1920 as Almirante Latorre. The crew of the battleship instigated a naval mutiny in 1931. After a major refit in 1937, she patrolled Chile's coast during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was scrapped
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
in 1959.
After Almirante Cochrane was purchased by the British, construction on the ship was halted until 1918, when it was decided to convert her into an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
. After numerous delays, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy in February 1924. She served in the Mediterranean Fleet
Mediterranean Fleet
Several countries have or have had a Mediterranean Fleet in their navy. See:* Mediterranean Fleet * French Mediterranean Fleet* Mediterranean Squadron * United States Sixth Fleet...
and on the China Station
China Station
The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....
in the inter-war period, and operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Second World War before being sunk in August 1942 during Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies...
.
Argentine–Chilean boundary dispute
Conflicting Argentine and Chilean claims to PatagoniaPatagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
, a geographic region in the southernmost portion of South America, went back to the 1840s. In 1872 and again in 1878, Chilean warships seized merchant ships which had been licensed to operate in the disputed area by Argentina. An Argentine warship did the same to an American ship in 1877. These actions nearly led to war in November 1878, when Argentina dispatched a squadron of warships to the Santa Cruz River
Santa Cruz River (Argentina)
Santa Cruz River is a river from the Argentine province of Santa Cruz.The Santa Cruz begins at the shore of the Viedma and Argentino Lakes, of glacial origin and located in the Los Glaciares National Park, and runs eastwards before reaching the Atlantic Coast, north of the southern tip of South...
. Chile responded with the same, and war was only avoided by a hastily signed treaty. Both countries were distracted in the next few years by Argentina's internal military operations against the indigenous population
Conquest of the Desert
The Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples...
and Chile's War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
(Guerra del Pacífico) against Bolivia and Peru, but by 1890 a full-fledged naval arms race
Arms race
The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation...
was underway between the two.
Both sides began ordering warships from the United Kingdom. Chile added £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
3,129,500 in 1887 to the budget for its fleet, which was centered around two 1870s central battery ironclads
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
, and , and a protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
. The battleship , two protected cruisers, and two torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s were ordered, and their keels were laid in 1890. Argentina responded soon after with an order for two battleships, and . The race continued through the 1890s, even after the Chile's civil war in 1891
Chilean Civil War
The Chilean Civil War of 1891 was an armed conflict between forces supporting Congress and forces supporting the sitting President, José Manuel Balmaceda. The war saw a confrontation between the Chilean Army and the Chilean Navy, which had sided with the president and the congress, respectively...
. The two countries alternated cruiser orders between 1890 and 1895, each ship marking a small increase in capabilities from the ship previous. The Argentines upped the ante in July 1895 by buying an armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
, , from Italy. Chile responded by ordering its own armored cruiser, , and six torpedo boats; Argentina quickly ordered another cruiser from Italy and later bought two more.
The race abated somewhat after a boundary dispute in the Puna de Atacama
Puna de Atacama
The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau is an arid high plateau averaging about above sea level and spanning an area of , in the Andes of northern Chile and Argentina and southwest Bolivia. Before the War of the Pacific , the region belonged to Bolivia. In 1898 it was ceded to Argentina in...
region was successfully mediated by the American ambassador to Argentina
United States Ambassador to Argentina
The United States Ambassador to Argentina is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of Argentina....
, William Paine Lord
William Paine Lord
William Paine Lord , was a Republican politician who served as the ninth Governor of Oregon from 1895 to 1899. The Delaware native previously served as the 27th associate justice on the Oregon Supreme Court, including three times as the Chief Justice of that court...
, in 1899, but more ships were ordered by Argentina and Chile in 1901. Argentina ordered two Rivadavia-class
Kasuga class cruiser
The was a class of two armored cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy based on the developed by Italy at the end of the 19th century.-Background:...
armored cruisers from Italy, and Chile replied with orders for two Constitución-class
Swiftsure class battleship
The Swiftsure class was a class of two British pre-dreadnought battleships. Originally ordered by Chile, they were purchased by the United Kingdom prior to completion.-Background:...
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleships. Argentina continued by signing letters of intent with Italian engineering company Ansaldo
Gio. Ansaldo & C.
Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993.-From foundation to World War I:...
in May 1901 to buy two larger battleships.
The growing dispute disturbed the British government, who had extensive commercial interests in the area. Through their minister to Chile, they mediated negotiations between the two countries. These were successfully concluded
Treaty of Arbitration between Chile and Argentina of 1902
The Cordillera of the Andes Boundary Case 1902 , was a British arbitration that established the present day boundaries between Argentina and Chile in Patagonia between the latitudes of 40° and 52° S as a interpretation of the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina...
on 28 May 1902 with three pacts. The third limited the naval armaments of both countries; both were barred from acquiring any further warships for five years without giving the other an eighteen months' advance notice. The United Kingdom purchased the two Chilean battleships, while Japan took over the order for the two Argentine armored cruisers; the two Argentine battleships were never ordered. Two Argentine cruisers and Chile's Capitán Prat were demilitarized.
Meanwhile, beginning in the late 1880s, Brazil's navy fell into obsolescence after an 1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor
Politics of the Empire of Brazil
Politics of the Empire of Brazil took place in a framework of a quasi-federal parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the Emperor of Brazil was the head of state and nominally head of government although the President of the Council of Ministers was effectively the de facto head,...
Dom
Dom (title)
Dom is a title of respect prefixed to the given name. It derives from Latin Dominus.It is used in English for certain Benedictine and Carthusian monks, and for members of certain communities of Canons Regular. Examples include Benedictine monks of the English Benedictine Congregation...
Pedro II
Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
, and a 1893 civil war
Revolta da Armada
Brazilian Naval Revolts, or the Revoltas da Armada , were armed mutinies promoted mainly by Admirals Custodio de Mello and Saldanha da Gama and their fleet of Brazilian Navy ships against unconstitucional attitudes of the then the central government in Rio de Janeiro.-First revolt:In November 1891,...
. By the turn of the 20th century it was lagging behind the Chilean and Argentine navies in quality and total tonnage, despite Brazil having nearly three times the population of Argentina and almost five times the population of Chile.
Dreadnought arms race
Rubber boom
The rubber boom was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related with the extraction and commercialization of rubber...
brought an influx of tax revenue, used to begin a large naval building plan. The centerpiece of the new navy would be two Minas Geraes-class
Minas Geraes-class battleship
The Minas Geraes class, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources, consisted of two battleships built for the Brazilian Navy which began a South American dreadnought race. The ships were named Minas Geraes, after the Brazilian state, and São Paulo, honoring both the state and city...
dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s built by the United Kingdom. The order for these powerful ships, designed to carry the heaviest armament in the world at the time, shocked Argentina and Chile, causing them to cancel the 1902 armament-limiting pact with immediate effect. Alarmed, the American ambassador to Brazil sent a cablegram
Cablegram
A cablegram, sometimes shortened to just cable, was a telegram, a text possibly encrypted, which was transmitted through the means of an electrical cable, underwater or aerial....
to his Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, warning them of the destabilizing effects that would occur if the situation devolved into a full naval arms race.
Argentina and other countries attempted to avert a full-scale naval arms race by offering to purchase one of the two dreadnoughts. Brazil refused Argentina's offer. After further tensions over the River Plate
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
(Río de la Plata, literally "Silver River") area and inflammatory newspaper editorials favoring dreadnoughts, Argentina went ahead with a massive naval building plan. After a drawn-out bidding process among fifteen shipyards from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, Argentina ordered two dreadnoughts with an option for a third from the United States. They also ordered twelve destroyers from three nations in Europe. With its major rival acquiring so many modern vessels, Chile wanted to respond as early as February 1906, but the country's naval plans were delayed by a financial depression
Depression (economics)
In economics, a depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe downturn than a recession, which is seen by some economists as part of the modern business cycle....
in 1907 brought on by a drastic fall in the nitrate
Nitrate
The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
market and by a major earthquake in 1908.
Bidding, construction, and sale to the British
On 6 July 1910, the National Congress of ChileNational Congress of Chile
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...
passed a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
allocating £400,000 pounds sterling to the navy for six destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s, two submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, and two large battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s, later named Almirante Latorre
Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre
Almirante Latorre, named after Juan José Latorre, was a super-dreadnought battleship built for the Chilean Navy . She was the first of a planned two-ship class that would respond to earlier warship purchases by other South American countries...
and Almirante Cochrane
HMS Eagle (1918)
HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924...
. Even before the decision was officially announced, the United Kingdom was widely viewed as the only country with a chance of landing the contract. The Chilean Navy had enjoyed a long-standing close relationship with its British counterpart, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, since the 1830s, when Chilean naval officers were given places on British ships to receive training and experience they could bring back to their country. This relationship had recently been cemented when a British naval mission was requested by Chile and sent in 1911.
Still, the United States made a push to have the orders placed in an American shipyard. The American government sent Henry Prather Fletcher to be the new minister to Chile
United States Ambassador to Chile
The following is a list of Ambassadors that the United States has sent to Chile. The current title given by the United States State Department to this position is Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.-See also:*Chile – United States relations...
in September 1910. Fletcher had successfully implemented President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
's "Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar Diplomacy is a term used to describe the effort of the United States—particularly under President William Howard Taft—to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. The term was originally coined by...
" policy in China. He met with resistance, which he attributed to lingering sentiment from the 1891 Baltimore Crisis
Baltimore Crisis
The Baltimore Crisis was a diplomatic incident that took place between Chile and the United States, during the Chilean Civil War, as result of the growing American influence in Pacific Coast region of Latin America in the 1890s. It remains a nodal event because it marked a dramatic shift in United...
: "My advances in the matter have not been met with frankness or encouragement and I feel a spirit of covert opposition. Under a very polite and courteous exterior there still exists a feeling of soreness towards us." The US naval attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
opined that, barring anything short of a revolution, the contracts would be given to the British. Indeed, the bidding process specified ships very close to the armament and armor mounted on recent British warships. Fletcher asked for an extension to the bidding process so that American shipbuilding firms could tailor proposals to these requirements, and this was granted.
During this time, Germany announced plans to send the battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
on a South American cruise. As the ship was "widely advertised as the fastest and most powerful warship then afloat," the United States and United Kingdom felt her presence might give German companies an advantage in potential armament contracts, so they sent ships of their own. The United States sent the new battleship on a ten-week excursion to Brazil and Chile, carrying the body of the recently deceased Chilean minister to the United States; the British responded with an armored cruiser squadron. Delawares captain was ordered to give the Chileans full access to the vessel—the only exception being that he should not give full particulars of the new fire-control system
Fire-control system
A fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...
—in an attempt by the Navy Department "to aid the shipbuilding interests of the country [United States] to make contracts for the building of men-of-war for foreign countries." As a further incentive the U.S. indicated its willingness to provide a $25 million loan to support the purchase of the ship.
In the event, the efforts made by the United States came to little. The final decision came down to a choice between the American and British tenders, and with a loan from the Rothchilds
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
, Chile awarded one battleship contract to the latter's Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
on 25 July 1911. The design was drawn up by J.R. Perret
J.R. Perret
J.R. Perret was the head of Elswick Ordnance Company in the early twentieth century who designed warships such as the Brazilian Minas Geraes class and Rio de Janeiro , and the Chilean Almirante Latorre class....
, who had also designed Brazil's Rio de Janeiro
HMS Agincourt (1913)
HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I...
. The United States still hoped that Chile would order American 14-inch/50 caliber
14"/50 caliber gun
The 14"/50 caliber gun was a naval gun mounted on and s. These ships also featured the first "three-gun" turrets, meaning that each gun in each turret could be "individually sleeved" to elevate separately...
guns for the battleship's main battery
Main battery
Generally used only in the terms of naval warfare, the main battery is the primary weapon around which a ship was designed. "Battery" is in itself a common term in the military science of artillery. For example, the United States Navy battleship USS Washington had a main battery of nine guns...
armament, but orders came only for coastal artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
. The second dreadnought was awarded to Armstrong in June 1912. Six Almirante Lynch-class destroyers were ordered in 1911 from J. Samuel White
J. Samuel White
J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White . It came to prominence during the Victorian era...
to accompany the new dreadnoughts. Before construction began, the Almirante Latorre design was enlarged to mount sixteen 6-inch (152 mm) rather than twenty-two 4.7-inch (119 mm) guns. This increased the displacement by 600 long tons (609.6 t), to 28000 long tons (28,449 t), the draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
by 6.5 inches (165.1 mm), to 33 feet (10.1 m), and made the ship a quarter-knot slower, to 22.75 knots.
Officially ordered on 2 November 1911 and laid down less than a month later on 27 November, the first dreadnought became the largest ship that Armstrong had built. The other was ordered on 29 July 1912 and laid down on 22 January 1913, delayed by Rio de Janiero occupying the slipway
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
in which she would be built. The New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
(2 November 1913) and Proceedings
Proceedings (magazine)
Proceedings is a monthly magazine published by the United States Naval Institute since 1874. The 96-page publication features articles about Naval and Military matters written by active and retired military personnel plus renowned authors and scholars of their subject.-External links:* * ** by...
(May and June 1914) reported that Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
had reached an accord to purchase the first battleship counterbalance the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
's acquisition of Rio de Janeiro from Brazil, but despite a developing sentiment within Chile to sell one or both of the dreadnoughts, no deal was made.
Almirante Latorre was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
first, on 27 November 1913, in an elaborate ceremony that was attended by various dignitaries and presided over by Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Agustín Edwards Mac Clure
Agustín Edwards Mac Clure
Agustín Edwards McClure was a Chilean lawyer, diplomat and businessman, and founder of the Santiago edition of El Mercurio newspaper....
. The battleship was christened by the ambassador's wife, Olga Budge de Edwards, and weighed 10700 long tons (10,871.7 t) at the time. After the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out in Europe, work on Almirante Latorre was halted in August 1914, and she was formally purchased on 9 September after the British Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
recommended it four days earlier. Almirante Latorre was not forcibly seized like the Ottoman Reshadieh and Sultan Osman I
HMS Agincourt (1913)
HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I...
(ex-Rio de Janeiro), two other ships being built for a foreign navy, because of Chile's "friendly neutral" status with the United Kingdom. The former Chilean ship was completed on 30 September 1915, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 October. Work on the other ship, Almirante Cochrane, was halted after the outbreak of war. The British purchased her on 28 February 1918 to be converted to an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, as the partially completed ship was the only available large and fast hull capable of being modified into a full flush-deck carrier. Low priority and quarrels with shipyard workers
Industrial action
Industrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider...
slowed completion of the ship.
Service histories
Almirante Latorre was renamed HMS Canada and slightly modified for British service. The ship completed fitting-outFitting-out
Fitting-out, or "outfitting”, is the process in modern shipbuilding that follows the float-out of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her owners...
on 20 September 1915, and was commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
into the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
on 15 October. She initially served with the 4th Battle Squadron
4th Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During World War I the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet...
of the Grand Fleet, and saw action in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
on 31 May and 1 June 1916. She fired 42 rounds from her 14-inch guns and 109 6-inch shells during the battle, and suffered no hits or casualties. Canada was transferred to the 1st Battle Squadron
1st Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British 1st Battle Squadron was a squadron of battleships, initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, renamed the Grand Fleet during World War I...
on 12 June 1916, received further modifications in 1917 and 1918, and was put into reserve in March 1919.
After the end of the war in Europe, Chile began to seek additional ships to bolster its fleet, and the United Kingdom eagerly offered many of its surplus warships. This action worried the nations of South America, who feared that a Chilean attempt to regain the title of "the first naval power in South America" would destabilize the region and start another naval arms race. Chile asked for Almirante Cochrane in addition to Canada, but would not purchase the ship unless she was reconstructed into the original battleship configuration. The British halted work on the incomplete ship while seriously considering the offer in October 1919. But because of the increased cost of reconverting her—£2.5 million, compared to a potential profit of £1.5 million from selling her—and a desire to test the aircraft carrier concept and especially the viability of island superstructures, the British kept and completed the ship, as .
In April 1920, Chile only bought Canada and four destroyers, all of which had been ordered by Chile prior to the war's outbreak and requisitioned by the British for the war. Planned replacements for Almirante Cochrane included the two remaining s, but a leak to the press of the secret negotiations to acquire them caused an uproar. The most visible dissension came from a block of officers in the navy who publicly opposed any possible purchase and instead promoted a "New Navy" which would acquire submarines and airplanes. They argued that these weapons would cost less and give the country, and its lengthy coastline, better protection from external threats. The ships were not bought for reasons of cost, but neither were the airplanes its supporters had been hoping for.
Almirante Latorre in Chilean service
Canada was renamed Almirante Latorre once again and formally handed over to the Chilean government on 27 November 1920. She departed PlymouthPlymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
the same day with two of the destroyers, and they arrived in Chile on 20 February 1921, where they were welcomed by Chile's president, Arturo Alessandri
Arturo Alessandri
Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma was a Chilean political figure and reformer, who served twice as the President of Chile, first between 1920 and 1924, and then again in 1925, and finally from 1932 until 1938....
. Almirante Latorre was made the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the navy. The dreadnought was frequently used by Alessandri for various functions, including as transport to Vallenar after a 1922 earthquake
1922 Vallenar earthquake
The 1922 Vallenar earthquake was a magnitude 8.5 earthquake that occurred in the Atacama Region of Chile, near the border with Argentina on November 11, 1922 at 04:32 UTC...
, and to Talcahuano
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...
for the grand opening of a new naval drydock in 1924. In 1925, with the fall of the January Junta
Government Junta of Chile (1925)
Government Junta of Chile , was the political structure established to restore power to President Arturo Alessandri, after he had been deposed in 1924. On January 23, 1925, a military movement of young officers, wrestled power from the previous September Junta...
, the ship hosted Alessandri after his return from exile. In September, the last month of his term, Alessandri received the United Kingdom's Edward
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, on board the battleship.
Almirante Latorre was sent to the United Kingdom for a modernization at the Devonport Dockyard
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
in 1929. It lasted for quite some time; she left for Valparaíso nearly two years later, on 5 March 1931, and arrived on 12 April. Not long after she returned, crewmembers aboard Almirante Latorre instigated a major mutiny. The revolt was a result of the country's economic woes
Great Depression in Latin America
The Great Depression which followed the US stock market crash of 1929 badly affected the countries of Latin America. Before the global Great Depression of the 1930s, links between the United States economy and Latin American economies had been established through US investment in Latin America and...
in the midst of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and a recent pay cut. Most of the navy's ships joined Almirante Latorre in the mutiny, but they surrendered five days after it began when an air strike was mounted by government forces. Almirante Latorre ended up in the Bay of Tongoi with .
With Chile still in the midst of the depression, Almirante Latorre was deactivated at Talcahuano in 1933 to lessen government expenditures, and only a caretaker crew was assigned to tend to the mothballed ship into the mid-1930s. Soon after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, the United States approached Chile with the aim of purchasing Almirante Latorre, two destroyers, and a submarine tender to bolster the United States Navy, but the offer was declined. Almirante Latorre was used during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for Chilean neutrality patrols. She remained active until 1951, when an accident in the ship's engine room killed three crewmen. Moored at Talcahuano, the battleship became a storage facility for fuel oil. She was decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
in October 1958, and was sold in February 1959 to be broken up
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
for scrap in Japan. The old dreadnought was taken under tow by the tug Cambrian Salvos on 29 May 1959, and reached Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan, at the end of August, though the scrapping process did not begin immediately on arrival.
Almirante Cochrane/Eagle in British service
Eagle was used for trials throughout 1920. As the concept of aircraft carriers was still very new, the lessons learned were incorporated in a 1921–23 refit. Her official sea trials were conducted in September 1923, and she was commissioned on 26 February 1924. The new ship was sent to the Mediterranean FleetMediterranean Fleet
Several countries have or have had a Mediterranean Fleet in their navy. See:* Mediterranean Fleet * French Mediterranean Fleet* Mediterranean Squadron * United States Sixth Fleet...
in June, and alternated between refits in the United Kingdom (1926, 1929) and the Mediterranean until 1931, when Eagle was sent to show the flag on a South American cruise. Between her major refits in 1931–32 and 1936, Eagle was sent to the China Station
China Station
The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....
before rotating back to the Mediterranean. After 1936, she was sent back to the Far East, and was there when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. For the next seven months, Eagle was used for anti-raider patrols, but when one of her own aircraft bombs exploded on board in March 1940, the carrier was forced to sail to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
for repairs. Soon after, Eagle was again moved to the Mediterranean, where she protected convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
s until May 1941, when she was sent to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. She spent the next several months in the South Atlantic, on guard against German raiders.
In September, a major fire severely damaged Eagle, so she was sent back to the United Kingdom. The refit lasted from October 1941 to February 1942, and she was quickly sent to reinforce Force H
Force H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany....
. She was employed to ferry fighters
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
in attempts to keep the besieged island under British control. As part of this duty, she was used to cover a convoy in August 1942; during the voyage, Eagle was sunk in four minutes by four torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es from the German submarine .
Specifications
- For specifications of Almirante Cochrane, see
Almirante Latorre closely resembled the British , the major difference being that the Chilean ship was longer, had less forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...
but more quarterdeck
Quarterdeck
The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...
, and had larger funnels along with an aft mast. The ship was 28100 long tons (28,551 t) standard and 31610 long tons (32,117.3 t) at full load. At 661 feet (201.5 m) overall, she was 39 feet (11.9 m) longer than the Iron Duke class, and she had a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 92 feet (28 m) and a mean draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 29 feet (8.8 m).
The ship's main battery
Main battery
Generally used only in the terms of naval warfare, the main battery is the primary weapon around which a ship was designed. "Battery" is in itself a common term in the military science of artillery. For example, the United States Navy battleship USS Washington had a main battery of nine guns...
was composed of ten 14-inch/45
EOC 14 inch /45 naval gun
The BL 14 inch 45 calibre gun were various similar naval guns designed and manufactured by Elswick Ordnance Company to equip ships that Armstrong-Whitworth built and/or armed for several countries before World War I.-History:...
caliber guns mounted in five dual turrets. The arrangement was the same as for the Iron Duke class, with two turrets superfiring
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
forward and a single turret amidships separated from the aft superfiring pair by superstructure and a mast. Built by the Elswick Ordnance Company, the guns were able to fire a 1586 pounds (719.4 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 1507 ft/s (764 m/s) to a maximum range of 24400 yards (22,311.4 m). They were able to depress to and elevate to . Fourteen of these guns were manufactured, ten mounted on Almirante Latorre and four kept for use as spares. The latter were kept by the United Kingdom after the sale to Chile and scrapped in 1922. The secondary battery was originally composed of sixteen 6-inch Mark XI
BL 6 inch Mk XI naval gun
The BL 6 inch Gun Mark XI was a British 50 calibres high-velocity naval gun which was mounted as primary armament on cruisers and secondary armament on pre-dreadnought battleships.-History:...
, two 3-inch
QF 3 inch 20 cwt
The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...
20 cwt
Hundredweight
The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
guns, four 3-pounders
Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers
The Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers was a British artillery piece first tested in Britain in 1910. It was used on Royal Navy warships. It was more powerful than and unrelated to the older QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss, with a propellant charge approximately twice as large, but it initially fired the same...
, and four submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. The two 6-inch guns located farthest aft were removed in 1916, as they were affected by blast damage from the amidships 14-inch turret. During the 1929 refit in the United Kingdom, four additional anti-aircraft guns were placed in the aft superstructure. The guns built for Almirante Cochrane were kept for potential later use on Almirante Latorre.
Almirante Latorre was powered by steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s manufactured by Brown–Curtis
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...
and Parsons
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...
, which put out 37,000 shaft horsepower, and 21 Yarrow boilers. Together, these turned four propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s which drove the ship through the water at a maximum speed of 22.75 kn (27.7 mph; 44.6 km/h). 3300 tonnes (3,247.9 LT) of coal and 520 tonnes (511.8 LT) of oil could be carried, giving the ship a maximum theoretical range of 4400 nmi (5,063.4 mi; 8,148.8 km) at 10 kn (12.2 mph; 19.6 km/h).
The battleship's armor was composed of a 9 to 4 in (228.6 to 101.6 mm) belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
, 4.5 to 3 in (114.3 to 76.2 mm) bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
s, 10 to 4 in (254 to 101.6 mm) barbette
Barbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s, 10 inches (254 mm) turret faces, a 4 to 3 in (101.6 to 76.2 mm) turret roof, a 11 inches (279.4 mm) conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
, and 4 to 1 in (101.6 to 25.4 mm) decks.
External links
- Dreadnought Project – technical material on the weaponry and fire control for the ship