Chilean cruiser Presidente Pinto (1890)

Presidente Pinto was a Presidente Errázuriz class protected cruiser of the Chilean Navy. She was built, like her sister ship, the protected cruiser Presidente Errázuriz, in France supervised by Juan José Latorre. The ships were ordered in 1887 by President José Manuel Balmaceda before the beginning of the 1891 Chilean Civil War.

Chilean cruiser Presidente Pinto in a postcard
History
Chile
Name: Presidente Pinto
Namesake: Aníbal Pinto Garmendia
Ordered: 1887
Builder: Forges et Chantiers
Launched: 1890
Commissioned: 1 January 1892
Fate: Sunk near Quellón on 26 May 1905
General characteristics
Class and type: Presidente Errázuriz class protected cruiser
Displacement: 2,047 t
Length: 268 feet 4 inches (81.79 m)
Beam: 35 ft 9.0 in (10.896 m)
Draught: 14 feet 5 inches (4.39 m)
Propulsion: 5,400 ihp (4,000 kW)
Speed: 18.35 kn (33.98 km/h; 21.12 mph)
Range: 400 t bunkerage
Armament:
  • 4 × 5.9-inch (150 mm)/36 caliber guns
  • 2 × 4.7-inch (120 mm)/36 caliber guns
  • 4 × 57 mm (2.2 in)/40 caliber guns
  • 2 × Gatling machine guns
  • 3 × 14-inch (360 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:
  • Deck: 2.25 in (57 mm)
  • Casemate: 3.25 in (83 mm)

During the war, the two cruisers lay incomplete in French dockyards alongside the pre-dreadnought battleship Capitán Prat. If these had been secured by the Balmacedists the naval supremacy of the congress would have been seriously challenged. The congressional forces formally requested that the ships be detained. None of the three ships were involved in the Civil War.

Presidente Pinto was launched and sailed to Chile on 5 August 1891, before having been completed. Her artillery was supplied from an English merchant in the North Sea while transiting to Chile.

Her voyage to Chile saw some trouble, forced to return to Le Havre in order to pick up crew and insubordination of the crew. She arrived to Valparaíso in September 1892, too late to participate in the Civil War.

The engines had to be repaired because of the improper conditioning during the voyage to Chile.

In 1902, during the Thousand Days' War, the Colombian Government tried unsuccessfully to purchase Presidente Pinto.[1]

See also

References
  1. Bernal, Ricardo García. "Operaciones Navales en la Guerra Civil de los "Mil días" y la separación de Panamá" (in Spanish). Panol de la historia. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
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