The Almirante class were two 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 built 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...

 by Vickers in Barrow in Furness, UK, in 1960. They served until the late 1990s. They were fitted with a unique Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 designed 4-inch dual purpose naval gun. The ships were modernised in Britain in 1975, and decommissioned in the late 1990s.

Programme

Chile decided to upgrade its destroyer fleet in the early 1950s and turned to British yards to fulfill the order. Bids were received from Vickers and Thronycroft (Freedman 2006) with the Vickers design chosen. The order was announced in January 1954 and finalised in 1955. The sensors were a mixture of British and Netherlands made radars.

Chile had considered buying a second pair of destroyers in the mid-1960s (Freedman 2006) but instead purchased the two Condell class frigate

Condell class frigate

The Condell class was the name given to a class of two new build and upgraded type Leander class frigates of the Chilean Navy, Almirante Condell and Almirante Lynch. They were ordered by the Chilean government in 1969 as ASW frigates. The ships were built between 1969 and 1973, under Chilean...

s a derivative of the Leander class frigate

Leander class frigate

The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

 instead.

Ships

Pennant	Name	Named after	Completed	Decommissioned
DDG-18	Almirante Riveros	Galvarino Riveros	31 December 1960	Sunk as Target 1998
DDG-19	Almirante Williams	Juan Williams Rebolledo Juan Williams Rebolledo Juan Williams Rebolledo was a Chilean rear admiral who was the organizer and commander-in-chief of the Chilean navy at the beginning of the War of the Pacific.-Early life:...	26 March 1960	Sunk as Target 1998

Vickers offered two similar ships to the Colombian Navy (Freedman 2006) but the Colombians bought two Halland class destroyer

Halland class destroyer

The Halland class destroyers were two ships built for Swedish Navy in the 1950s. Four ships were planned, but the second pair were canceled. Two modified ships were exported to the Colombian Navy. These vessels were surface combatants general purpose....

s from Sweden instead.