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 other ships with the same name, see Chilean ship Esmeralda.
Esmeralda
History
Chile
NameEsmeralda
NamesakeEsmeralda (1791)
Ordered15 May 1895
BuilderArmstrong Mitchell, Elswick
Laid down4 July 1895[1]
Launched14 April 1896[1]
Commissioned4 September 1896[1]
Decommissioned1930
FateScrapped 1930
General characteristics [1]
TypeArmoured cruiser
Displacement7,032 long tons (7,145 t)
Length
  • 436 ft (132.89 m) (pp)
  • 468 ft 3 in (142.72 m) oa
Beam52 ft 5 in (15.98 m)
Draft20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Installed power
  • 6 cylindrical boilers
  • 16,000 ihp (12,000 kW)
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 triple expansion steam engines
Speed22.25 knots (41.21 km/h; 25.60 mph)
Complement513
Armament
Armor
  • Harvey armor
  • Belt: 6 in (152 mm)
  • Deck: 1.5–2 in (38–51 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm)
  • Gunshields: 4.5 in (114 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, has written that 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 

In 1915, the Chilean Navy claimed that Esmeralda set speed and accuracy world records in big-gun shooting. For the latter, 100 out of 100 shots hit a target.[7]

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.
  7. "Chileans Claim a Record". The New York Times. 11 July 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 21 April 2023.

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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