A naval arms race among Argentina, Brazil and Chile began in the early twentieth century. A dispute over conflicting Argentine and Chilean claims to Patagonia, the southernmost region in South America, started in the mid-1800s. In 1887, the Chilean government added £3,129,500 to the budget for its fleet, which at the time was centered on two central battery ironclads, Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada. In 1890, Chile ordered two battles ships,possibly orderedGaribaldi Chacabuco and Capitán Prat. This began a two-year arms race between Argentina and Chile.
About South American dreadnought race in brief
A naval arms race among Argentina, Brazil and Chile began in the early twentieth century. The Brazilian government ordered three dreadnoughts, formidable battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world’s navies. A dispute over conflicting Argentine and Chilean claims to Patagonia, the southernmost region in South America, started in the mid-1800s, and the two nations nearly went to war over it in the late 1870s. The First World War marked the end of the South American naval armsrace, as the countries involved found themselves effectively unable to purchase additional capital ships abroad. Although Brazil and Chilean’s post-war naval expansion plans called for additional dreadnought-type warships, no additional new units were ever constructed. The Argentine ships were particularly controversial, facing both political opposition and shipbuilder outrage from the multi-round bidding process used to select the design of their new ships. In 1887, the Chilean government added £3,129,500 to the budget for its fleet, which at the time was centered on two central battery ironclads, Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada. They ordered the battleship Capitán Prat, two protected cruisers, and two torpedo boats; their keels were laid in 1890. The Chilean government responded to the Argentine naval expansion with an order for two battleships, which would continue for two decades. This began a naval race between the two countries, which began a two-year arms race between Argentina and Chile.
The battle-tested Chileans experienced fewer challenges from the Argentines, and there was no guarantee that Chile would not try to replicate that success against Argentina. While the Chileans did possess more warships than Argentina, their warships were usually smaller and their crews were usually less battletested than the Argentineans’ Facing these challenges, the Argentine government responded with two battleship battleships which would continued for two years. In the late 1800s, Chileans added the world’s first protected cruiser, Esmeralda, while the Argentians contracted for two warships, the central batteryironclad Almirantes Brown and protected cruiserPatagonia. This was a cause for concern for the Argentina government for two reasons: First, their overlapping claims with Chile over the southern most region in the South America had already nearly led to war in 1878. Second, the Argentans had recently watched the Chileanans win the War of the Pacific and obtain the regions from Peru, Bolivia and Peru, and they did not want to replicate their success against Chileans, such as the central ironclad Almirante Brown, which had been built in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1890, Chile ordered two battles ships,possibly orderedGaribaldi Chacabuco and Capitán Prat. The Chileans also ordered two ships, possibly ordered Garibaldi Prat and Capitán Chilean Battalion, which were built in 1887 and 1890.
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