Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre
Encyclopedia
Almirante Latorre, named after Juan José Latorre
Juan José Latorre
Juan José Latorre Benavente Chilean Vice Admiral, one of the principal actors of the War of the Pacific, and hero of the Battle of Angamos.-Early life:...
, was a super-dreadnought battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
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...
(Armada de Chile). She was the first of a planned two-ship class
Almirante Latorre-class battleship
The Almirante Latorre class consisted of two battleships designed by the British company Armstrong Whitworth for the Chilean Navy. Only one, , was finished as a battleship; the other, Almirante Cochrane, was converted to an aircraft carrier. They were sold to the Royal Navy prior to completion and...
that would respond to earlier warship purchases by other South American countries
South American dreadnought race
A South American dreadnought race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile was kindled in 1907 when the Brazilian government announced their intention to purchase three dreadnoughts—powerful battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world's navies—from the British company...
. Construction began at Elswick
Elswick, Tyne and Wear
Elswick is a ward of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in the western part of the city, bordering the river Tyne. One of the earliest references to the coal mining industry of the north east occurs in 1330, when it was recorded that the Prior of Tynemouth let a colliery, called Heygrove, at...
, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
soon after the ship was ordered in November 1911, and was approaching completion when she was bought by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
for use in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
in September 1915, she served in the Grand Fleet as HMS Canada for the duration of the war and saw action during the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
.
Canada was repurchased by Chile in 1920. She took back her original name of Almirante Latorre, and served as the Chilean flagship and frequently as presidential transport. She underwent a thorough modernization in the United Kingdom in 1929–31. In September 1931, crewmen aboard Almirante Latorre instigated a mutiny, which the majority of the Chilean fleet quickly joined. After divisions developed between the mutineers, the rebellion fell apart and the ships were returned to government control. Almirante Latorre was placed in reserve for a time in the 1930s because of the Great Depression
Great Depression in Latin America
The Great Depression which followed the US stock market crash of 1929 badly affected the countries of Latin America. Before the global Great Depression of the 1930s, links between the United States economy and Latin American economies had been established through US investment in Latin America and...
, but she was in good enough condition to receive interest from the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. This overture was declined and the ship spent most of the Second World War on patrol for Chile. She was scrapped
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
in Japan beginning in 1959.
Background
Almirante Latorres genesis can be traced to the numerous naval arms races between Chile and Argentina, which in turn were spawned by territorial disputes over their mutual borders in PatagoniaPatagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
and Puna de Atacama
Puna de Atacama
The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau is an arid high plateau averaging about above sea level and spanning an area of , in the Andes of northern Chile and Argentina and southwest Bolivia. Before the War of the Pacific , the region belonged to Bolivia. In 1898 it was ceded to Argentina in...
, along with control of the Beagle Channel
Beagle Channel
thumb|right|300px|Aereal view of Beagle Channel. The Chilean [[Navarino Island]] is seen in the top-right while the Argentine part of [[Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego]] is seen at the bottom-left....
. Naval races flared up in the 1890s and in 1902; the latter was eventually settled via British mediation. Provisions in the dispute-ending treaty imposed restrictions on both countries' navies. The United Kingdom's Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
bought the two Constitución-class
Swiftsure class battleship
The Swiftsure class was a class of two British pre-dreadnought battleships. Originally ordered by Chile, they were purchased by the United Kingdom prior to completion.-Background:...
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleships that were being built for Chile, and Argentina sold its two Rivadavia-class
Kasuga class cruiser
The was a class of two armored cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy based on the developed by Italy at the end of the 19th century.-Background:...
armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
s under construction in Italy to Japan.
After was commissioned, Brazil decided in early 1907 to halt construction of three obsolescent pre-dreadnoughts in favor of two or three dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s. These ships, commissioned as the Minas Geraes class
Minas Geraes-class battleship
The Minas Geraes class, spelled Minas Gerais in some sources, consisted of two battleships built for the Brazilian Navy which began a South American dreadnought race. The ships were named Minas Geraes, after the Brazilian state, and São Paulo, honoring both the state and city...
, were designed to carry the heaviest battleship armament in the world at the time. They came as a shock to the navies of South America. Historian Robert Scheina commented that they "outclassed the entire [elderly] Argentinian fleet". Although debates raged in Argentina over whether it would be prudent to counter Brazil's purchase by acquiring their own expensive dreadnoughts, further border disputes—particularly near the River Plate
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
with Brazil—decided the matter, and it ordered two s (no relation to the earlier cruisers) from the Fore River Shipbuilding Company
Fore River Shipyard
The Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from 1883 until 1986. Located on the Weymouth Fore River, the yard began operations in 1883 in Braintree, Massachusetts before being moved...
in the United States. With its major rival acquiring dreadnoughts, Chile responded by asking for tenders from American and European countries that would give the country the most powerful battleships afloat.
Construction, purchase and First World War service
On 6 July 1910, the National Congress of ChileNational Congress of Chile
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...
passed a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
allocating 400,000 pounds sterling to the navy for two 28000 long tons (28,449 t) battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s—which would eventually be named Almirante Latorre and Almirante Cochrane
HMS Eagle (1918)
HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924...
—six 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, and two submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s. The contract to build the battleships was awarded to Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
on 25 July 1911. Almirante Latorre was officially ordered on 2 November 1911, and was laid down less than a month later on 27 November, becoming the largest ship built by Armstrong at the time. The New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
reported on 2 November 1913 that Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
had reached an accord to purchase Almirante Latorre during a war scare with the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, but despite a developing sentiment within Chile to sell one or both of the dreadnoughts, no deal was made.
Almirante Latorre was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 27 November 1913, in an elaborate ceremony that was attended by various dignitaries and presided over by Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Agustín Edwards Mac Clure
Agustín Edwards Mac Clure
Agustín Edwards McClure was a Chilean lawyer, diplomat and businessman, and founder of the Santiago edition of El Mercurio newspaper....
. The battleship was christened by the ambassador's wife, Olga Budge de Edwards. After the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out in Europe, Almirante Latorre was formally purchased by the United Kingdom on 9 September 1914; she was not forcibly seized like the Ottoman Reshadieh and Sultan Osman I
HMS Agincourt (1913)
HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I...
, two other ships being built for a foreign navy, because the Allies' reliance on Chilean munitions imports made retention of Chile's "friendly neutral" status with the United Kingdom a matter of vital importance.
Almirante Latorre was renamed HMS Canada and slightly modified for British service. The bridge was taken off in favor of two open platforms, and a mast
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
was added in between the two funnels to support a derrick that would service launches
Launch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
. The super-dreadnought completed fitting-out
Fitting-out
Fitting-out, or "outfitting”, is the process in modern shipbuilding that follows the float-out of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her owners...
on 20 September 1915, and was commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
into the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
on 15 October. She initially served with the 4th Battle Squadron
4th Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During World War I the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet...
of the Grand Fleet. Canada saw action in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
on 31 May–1 June 1916, firing 42 rounds from her 14-inch guns and 109 6-inch shells during the battle, and suffered no hits or casualties. During the battle, she got off two salvoes at the disabled cruiser at 18:40, and fired five more at an unknown ship around 19:20. Her 6-inch guns were utilized for firing at German destroyers at 19:11.
Canada was transferred to the 1st Battle Squadron
1st Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British 1st Battle Squadron was a squadron of battleships, initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, renamed the Grand Fleet during World War I...
on 12 June 1916. In 1917–18, she was fitted with better rangefinders and range dials, and two of the aft 6-inch secondary guns were removed after they suffered blast damage from the middle 14-inch turret. In the latter year, flying-off platforms for aircraft were added atop the superfiring
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
turrets fore and aft. Canada was put into the reserve fleet in March 1919.
Early career
After the end of the war in Europe, Chile began to seek additional ships to bolster its fleet. The United Kingdom offered many of its surplus warships, including the two remaining s. The news that Chile could possibly acquire two Invincibles kindled a major uproar in the country, with naval officers publicly denouncing such an action and instead promoting the virtues of submarines and aircraft on the basis of lower costs and their performance in the First World War. The nations of South America worried that an attempt to regain the title of "the first naval power in South America" would start another naval arms race.In the end, Chile purchased only Canada and four destroyers in April 1920, all of which had been ordered by Chile prior to the war's outbreak and requisitioned by the British for the war. The total cost of the five ships was less than a third of what Chile was going to pay for Almirante Latorre in 1914. Canada was renamed Almirante Latorre once again and formally handed over to the Chilean government on 27 November 1920. She departed Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
the same day with two of the destroyers, and , under the command of Admiral Luis Gomez Carreño
Luis Gómez Carreño
Luis Esteban Gómez Carreño was a Chilean naval officer. Having joined the navy aged 15 on board the Huáscar, he later served as squadron commander in chief, director of the Naval School and Minister of War and the Navy under the September Junta...
. They arrived in Chile on 20 February 1921, where they were welcomed by Chile's president, Arturo Alessandri
Arturo Alessandri
Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma was a Chilean political figure and reformer, who served twice as the President of Chile, first between 1920 and 1924, and then again in 1925, and finally from 1932 until 1938....
. Almirante Latorre was made the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the navy.
In her capacity as flagship of the Chilean Navy, Almirante Latorre was frequently utilized by the president for various functions. In the aftermath of the magnitude
Moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...
8.5 1922 Vallenar earthquake
1922 Vallenar earthquake
The 1922 Vallenar earthquake was a magnitude 8.5 earthquake that occurred in the Atacama Region of Chile, near the border with Argentina on November 11, 1922 at 04:32 UTC...
, Almirante Latorre was used to transport Alessandri to the affected area. The ship also brought "tents, medical supplies, rations, clothing and 2,000,000 pesos
Chilean peso
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. The symbol used locally for it is $. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It is subdivided into 100 centavos, although no centavo denominated coins...
" for those affected. By 1923, Chile only had Almirante Latorre, a cruiser, and five destroyers in commission, leading The New York Times to remark "experts would probably place Chile third in potential sea power [after Brazil and Argentina]". While Almirante Latorre was individually more powerful than the Brazilian or Argentine dreadnoughts, they had two each to Chile's one. Compounding this was a lack of modern cruisers to accompany the lone dreadnought. In 1924, Almirante Latorre hosted the president again when he visited Talcahuano
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...
for the grand opening of a new naval drydock there. After the fall of the January Junta
Government Junta of Chile (1925)
Government Junta of Chile , was the political structure established to restore power to President Arturo Alessandri, after he had been deposed in 1924. On January 23, 1925, a military movement of young officers, wrestled power from the previous September Junta...
in 1925, the dreadnought hosted the returning President Alessandri during a Naval Review
Naval Review
A Naval Review is an event, where the whole of the US Navy is paraded to be reviewed by the president or the Secretary of the Navy. It often includes delegates from other national navies. It is more regular and frequent than its British equivalent, the Fleet Review, and often occurs on a Navy...
in Valparaíso; while on board, he gave a speech to senior naval officials to assure them that his new government "was for all Chileans, and not partisan in its inspiration". In September, the last month of his term, Alessandri received the United Kingdom's Edward
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, on board the battleship. The visit briefly quelled domestic unrest, and it marked the beginning of negotiations for a British naval mission, which arrived in the following year.
Almirante Latorre was sent to the United Kingdom for a modernization at the Devonport Dockyard
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
in 1929. Departing Chile on 15 May, she traveled past Balboa
Balboa, Cauca
Balboa is a town and municipality in the Cauca Department, Colombia.Founded by Order No. 02 on 3 November 1967, the municipality covers an area of and has a population of 27,030. The population is primarily engaged in agriculture and ranching....
before traversing the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
nine days later. After refueling at Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
on 28 May, the dreadnought continued across the Atlantic, passing the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
before arriving in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
on 24 June. Major alterations included rebuilding the bridge, updating the main battery fire control to more modern standards and adding it for the secondary armament for the first time, and replacing her steam turbine engines. Also added were a new mast between the third and fourth turrets, anti-torpedo bulge
Anti-torpedo bulge
The anti-torpedo bulge is a form of passive defence against naval torpedoes that featured in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars.-Theory and form:...
s similar to the British s, and new anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
guns. Nearly two years after the modernization began, Almirante Latorre sailed back to Valparaíso on 5 March 1931 and put in on 12 April. Two 33 long tons (33.5 t) tug boats which had been acquired for use in the harbors of Punta Arenas and Valparaíso were carried on the battleship's deck during her voyage back to Chile.
1931 mutiny
Despite the goodwill brought on by the removal of the "strongman" President Carlos Ibáñez del CampoCarlos Ibáñez del Campo
General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...
in July 1931, Chile could not overcome the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
's severe economic effects, and wages for civil servants making over 3,000 pesos
Chilean peso
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. The symbol used locally for it is $. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It is subdivided into 100 centavos, although no centavo denominated coins...
a year were cut by 12–30 percent to reduce government expenditures. This triggered a severe reaction among the sailors of the navy, who had already suffered a 10 percent salary cut and 50 percent loss in overseas bonuses. Various members of the crew on board Almirante Latorre, but no officers, met on 31 August and decided that a mutiny was the best course of action.
Shortly after midnight on 1 September, the junior crew members of Almirante Latorre, an armored cruiser , seven destroyers, and a few submarines took over their ships while many of their shipmates were watching a boxing tournament in La Serena. They imprisoned the officers, most without conflict, and secured the ships by about 02:00. They elected a committee, the Estado Mayor de Tripulacion, to take control of the mutiny. Later that day, at 16:55, the mutineers radioed the minister of the navy, declaring that they were acting on their own accord, as opposed to acting in concert with a militant political party or communist insurgents. They asked for their full salaries to be restored and the punishment of those who had plunged Chile into a depression, while also stating that they would not use force to achieve these goals.
Just before midnight on 2 September, the mutineers messaged the Chilean government with a more "sophisticated" list of twelve demands. Meanwhile, further south, junior members of the navy in the main naval base of Talcahuano
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.-Geography:...
joined the mutiny, taking several vessels in the process. Several of these sailed north to join the other rebels, while two cruisers, a few destroyers and submarines remained to guard the base. Other bases joined the now-full-fledged rebellion as well, including the Second Air Group based in Quintero
Quintero
Quintero is a Chilean city and commune in Valparaíso Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of .-History:The name of the city comes from Alonso Quintero, the Spanish navigator who discovered the bay in 1536 when he arrived on the ship Santiaguillo.-Demographics:According to the 2002...
. With so many rebels appearing, it was feared by many that the plethora of unemployed workers would join. The government attempted to solicit aid from the United States in the form of military intervention or war materiel (including two submarines and bombs capable of penetrating the armor of Almirante Latorre), but they were rebuffed both publicly and privately. Acting Vice President Manuel Trucco
Manuel Trucco
Manuel Trucco Franzani was a Chilean politician and provisional vice president of Chile in 1931.He was born in Cauquenes, the son of Napoleón Trucco Morano and of María Franzani Monigette. He completed his studies in his native city, and at the Instituto Nacional...
now found himself in an undesirable position; he had to defeat the rebels before more units joined and bolstered their forces, but if he was too harsh, there was a risk that the populace would think that his policies were too similar to the former dictator Ibáñez del Campo. Trucco decided on a path of reconciliation. He sent a naval admiral, Edgardo von Schroeders, to negotiate with the mutineers. They met on board Almirante Latorre, where von Schroeders, seeing a potential split between sailors angry over their pay versus others with a more political agenda, tried to divide them along these lines and get them to surrender. However, a plea from the approaching southern fleet, asking for them to wait before any possible settlement, sealed the matter for the time being and von Schroders flew back to the capital.
5 September marked a turn in the rebels' fortunes, despite the arrival of the southern fleet a day earlier. All of their land gains were taken by government forces, leaving only the fleet in the mutineers' hands. By the next day, an air strike was mounted by government forces. The only damage done was to the submarine H4, which was unable to dive, but at least one bomb landed about 50 yards (45.7 m) from Almirante Latorre. Despite the scant damage, the attack broke the mutineers' spirits; they quickly offered to send a delegation to Santiago to discuss terms, but the government, bolstered by its land victories, refused. While the mutiny devolved into arguing and anarchy, individual ships began leaving the bay and setting sail for Valparaíso, and the rest soon followed. Almirante Latorre ended up in the Bay of Tongoi with . Seven crewmen on the dreadnought received death sentences, later commuted to life in prison.
Later career
Still in the midst of the depression, Almirante Latorre was deactivated at Talcahuano in 1933 to lessen government expenditures, and only a caretaker crew was assigned to tend to the mothballed ship into the mid-1930s. In a 1937 refit in the Talcahuano dockyard, the aircraft catapult was taken off and anti-aircraft weaponry was added. Almirante Latorre was never fully modernized, however, and by the Second World War her main batteryMain battery
Generally used only in the terms of naval warfare, the main battery is the primary weapon around which a ship was designed. "Battery" is in itself a common term in the military science of artillery. For example, the United States Navy battleship USS Washington had a main battery of nine guns...
was comparatively short-ranged and her armor protection, designed before the "all or nothing" principle was put into practice, was wholly inadequate. Nevertheless, soon after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, the United States approached the Chilean naval attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
and the vice admiral heading Chile's naval commission to the United States with the aim of purchasing Almirante Latorre and a few destroyers to bolster the United States' navy. The offer was rebuffed, and Almirante Latorre was used for neutrality patrol
Neutrality Patrol
At the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the hostilities in Europe, President Franklin D...
s during the Second World War.
Almirante Latorre was active until 1951, when an accident in the ship's engine room killed three crewmen. Moored at Talcahuano, the battleship became a storage facility for fuel oil. She was decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
in October 1958, and was sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
in February 1959 for $881,110 to be broken up
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
for scrap. On 29 May 1959, to the salutes of the assembled Chilean fleet, the old dreadnought was taken under tow by the tug Cambrian Salvos, and reached Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan, at the end of August, though the scrapping process did not begin immediately on arrival. A substantial amount of parts from Almirante Latorre were used in the restoration of the Mikasa
Japanese battleship Mikasa
is a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, launched in Britain in 1900. She served as the flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō during the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904, and the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. The ship is preserved as...
.