The Almirante class were two destroyers built for the Chilean Navy by Vickers in Barrow in Furness, UK, in 1960, named after Chilean admirals.

They were fitted with a unique Vickers-designed 4-inch dual purpose naval gun, which fired up to 50 rounds per minute.

It was rejected for RN use because of doubt about its sustained firing, the large stocks of surplus WW2 single 4.5 and twin 4-inch guns which the RN claimed wrongly were close to the new 4-inch N(R) in performance, and mainly because it was a private out-of-house, Vickers design.

Chile decided to upgrade its destroyer fleet in the early 1950s and turned to British yards to fulfil the order.

Chile had considered buying a second pair of destroyers in the mid-1960s[3] but instead purchased two Condell-class frigates, a derivative of the Leander class, instead.