Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1896)

Esmeralda was developed as a custom design by naval architect Philip Watts for the Chilean Navy during the Argentine–Chilean naval arms race.

For the earlier cruiser sold to Japan, see Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1883).
Cruiser Esmeralda
History
Chile
Name: Esmeralda
Namesake: Esmeralda (1791)
Ordered: 15 May 1895
Builder: Armstrong Mitchell and Co. Ltd, Elswick
Laid down: 4 July 1895[1]
Launched: 14 April 1896[1]
Commissioned: 4 September 1896[1]
Decommissioned: 1930
Fate: Scrapped 1930
General characteristics [1]
Type: Armoured cruiser
Displacement: 7,032 long tons (7,145 t)
Length:
  • 436 ft (132.89 m) pp
  • 468 ft 3 in (142.72 m) oa
Beam: 52 ft 5 in (15.98 m)
Draft: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Installed power:
  • 16,000 ihp (12,000 kW) (natural draft)
  • 18,000 ihp (13,000 kW) (forced draft)
Propulsion:
  • Two vertical triple expansion steam engines
  • 6 cylindrical boilers
  • 2 shafts
Speed:
  • 22.25 kn (25.60 mph; 41.21 km/h) (natural draft)
  • 23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Complement: 513
Armament:
Armor:
  • Harvey steel
  • Belt: 6 in (152 mm)
  • Deck:1 1⁄2–2 in (38–51 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm)
  • Gunshields:4 1⁄2 in (110 mm)
  • Conning tower: 8 in (203 mm)

Background and design

This Esmeralda was purchased in part with US$1,500,000 in funds garnered from the sale of an earlier protected cruiser of the same name to Japan via Ecuador.[2]

The new ship was defined by historian Adrian J. English as "the first armored cruiser to be built for any navy,"[3] and the contemporary Naval Annual called it "one of the most powerful cruisers in the world."[4] Another historian, Peter Brook, believes that the newer Esmeralda should be classified as a lesser "belted" cruiser due to design faults present after its conversion from a protected cruiser while under construction.[5]

Service

On 18 December 1907, the ship brought troops from Valparaíso to Iquique to repress thousands of miners from different nitrate mines in Chile's north who were appealing for government intervention to improve their living and working conditions. This later developed into the Santa María School massacre.[6]:340

Esmeralda served in the Chilean Navy until 1930.

See also

Notes
  1. Brooke 1999, p. 101.
  2. Robert Scheina, Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 48; Charles R. Flint, "Fifty Years a Trader," System: The Magazine of Business 40, no. 2 (1921): 218.
  3. Adrian J. English, Armed Forces of Latin America (London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1984), 146.
  4. E. Weyl, "The Progress of Foreign Navies," in The Naval Annual, ed. T.A. Brassey (London: William Clowes and Sons, 1896), 55.
  5. Peter Brook, Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships, 1867–1927 (Gravesend, UK: World Ship Society, 1999), 101–02.
  6. Carlos López Urrutia (1969). Historia de la Marina de Chile. Andres Bello. GGKEY:9XDHU6QU6DA. Retrieved 9 January 2013.

References
  • Brooke, Peter. Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867–1927. Gravesend, UK: World Ship Society, 1999. ISBN 0-905617-89-4.
  • Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway's Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
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