Overview of South American Battleships

Battlewagons of Argentina Brazil and Chile 1906 1959

Sep 24, 2009

Argentina and Chile entered a three-way Naval Arms Race with Brazil just before World War One that led to a half century of South American battleships.

When His Majesty's Royal Navy launched the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 it sparked a naval revolution. Combining lessons learned in the naval battles of the Sino-Japanese (1894-95), Spanish American (1898), and Russo-Japanese wars (1904-05) with the most modern ship building techniques, the Dreadnought literally changed everything. Brazil, anxious to be seen as an international power initiated a South American arms race when in 1906 she signed an order for three large new Dreadnought type battleships from England. The ships vastly outclassed the entire combined navies of her neighbors. This led quickly to Argentina and Chile ordering unique vessels on the world markets in a game of naval catch up.

Argentina Brazil and Chile’s Battleship Race

No less than nine battleships were planned for the navies of Argentina, Brazil and Chile between 1906 and 1911. Brazil and Chile ordered ships from England while Argentina ordered theirs from the United States. This broke down into four battleships for Brazil, three for Argentina and two for Chile The crash in the global rubber market in 1911 forced a reduction in Brazil’s naval program and she canceled building one ship outright before it could be started and sold another (the largest) before it would be completed to Turkey. Argentina likewise canceled one of her battleships. Chile had her pair purchased by Britain at the start of World War One before they could be completed, although one was later sold back to Chile in 1920. From the initial orders, only a total of five battleships actually went on to serve in the South American navies

Comparison of the Delivered South American Battleships

Both the two Argentine (Rivadavia class) and two Brazilian (Minas Gerais class) ships carried a dozen 12 inch (305mm) guns as a main armament, although the US designed weapons on the Argentine ships were seen as being marginally superior. The single Chilean ship (Almirante Latorre) was the best armed with both modern fire control and fourteen 14-inch (355mm) weapons. The Brazilian and Chilean vessels, while constructed in England, were not constructed to the same specifications as that of the Royal Navy and were seen as being under armored and vulnerable. The Argentine ships were alternatively built to US-Naval standards and were seen as being much better armored. In so much as size is concerned the Brazilian ships were by far the smallest at 21,000 tons compared to the Argentine ship’s 30,600 tons and the Chilean “super dreadnought’s” 32,000 tons. The Argentine and Chilean ships were roughly capable of the same speed (22.5-23kts) while the Brazilian ships were a slightly slower (21 knots)

South American Battleship Operations 1911-1959

Chile, whose battleships had been taken up, and Argentina remained neutral in World War One. Brazil declared war on Germany in 1917 and offered her prized pair of ships to serve with the Royal Navy. The offer however was declined as the ships lacked modern fire control and the ships were kept safely in home waters. The pair of Brazilian ships did however see limited combat action in more than a dozen domestic mutinies, coups and revolutions during their lifespan. All of the ships were refitted to varying degrees between the two world wars. By World War Two the Brazilian (Minas Gerais class) ships were restricted to harbor defense even though Brazil had entered the war on the side of the Allies. The Chilean and Argentine vessels were well maintained and even able to undertake fleet operations, however their national governments held off on a declaration of war until just a few months before Berlin fell and they saw no wartime use. With the decline and fall of the battleship following World War Two, all five of these noble but elderly ships were finally paid off and scrapped 1951-1959.

Sources

ARGENTINA'S SHIP READY.; Battleship Rivadavia Placed in Commission at Charlestown Navy Yard. New York Times August 28, 1914

Whitley, M.J.. Battleships of World War Two - An International Encyclopedia. Weidenfeld Military, 1998.

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