The Almirante Latorre class consisted of two super-dreadnought battleships designed by the British company Armstrong Whitworth for the Chilean Navy.

They were intended to be Chile's entries to the South American dreadnought race, but both were purchased by the Royal Navy prior to completion for use in the First World War.

Almirante Latorre, which was closer to completion than its sister, was bought in 1914 and commissioned into British service as HMS Canada in October 1915.

After several years of inactivity, the ship underwent a major refit in the United Kingdom in 1937, later allowing it to patrol Chile's coast during the Second World War.

Both countries were distracted in the next few years by Argentina's internal military operations against the indigenous population and Chile's War of the Pacific (Guerra del Pacífico) against Bolivia and Peru, but by 1890 a full-fledged naval arms race was underway between the two.

Chile added £3,129,500 in 1887 to the budget for its fleet, which was centered on two 1870s central battery ironclads, Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada, and a protected cruiser.

The third limited the naval armaments of both countries; both were barred from acquiring any further warships for five years without giving the other an eighteen months' advance notice.

[5] Meanwhile, beginning in the late 1880s, Brazil's navy fell into obsolescence after an 1889 revolution, which deposed Emperor Dom Pedro II, and an 1893 civil war.

[7] Soaring demand for coffee and rubber brought an influx of tax revenue,[8][9] used to begin a large naval building plan.

[7] The order for these powerful ships, designed to carry the heaviest armament in the world at the time,[10] shocked Argentina and Chile,[11] causing them to cancel the 1902 armament-limiting pact with immediate effect.

Alarmed, the American ambassador to Brazil sent a cablegram to his Department of State, warning them of the destabilizing effects that would occur if the situation devolved into a full naval arms race.

The final decision came down to a choice between the American and British tenders,[25] and with a loan from the Rothchilds, Chile awarded one battleship contract to the latter's Armstrong Whitworth on 25 July 1911.

[26] The New York Tribune (2 November 1913) and Proceedings (May and June 1914) reported that Greece had reached an accord to purchase the first battleship counterbalance the Ottoman Empire's acquisition of Rio de Janeiro from Brazil,[34][35] but despite a developing sentiment within Chile to sell one or both of the dreadnoughts, no deal was made.

[36][37][F] Almirante Latorre was launched first, on 27 November 1913,[39][40][G] 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.

[41] After the First World War broke out in Europe, work on Almirante Latorre was halted in August 1914,[31] and it was formally purchased on 9 September after the British Cabinet recommended it four days earlier.

[19][28][42][43] Almirante Latorre was not forcibly seized like the Ottoman Reşadiye and Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel (ex-Rio de Janeiro), two other ships being built for a foreign navy, because of Chile's "friendly neutral" status with the United Kingdom.

[39] After the end of the war in Europe, Chile began to seek additional ships to bolster its fleet, and the United Kingdom eagerly offered many of its surplus warships.

[46] Planned replacements for Almirante Cochrane included the two remaining Invincible-class battlecruisers, but a leak to the press of the secret negotiations to acquire them caused an uproar.

[18] The dreadnought was frequently used by Alessandri for various functions, including as transport to Vallenar after a 1922 earthquake,[18][50] and to Talcahuano for the grand opening of a new naval drydock in 1924.

In September, the last month of his term, Alessandri received the United Kingdom's Edward, Prince of Wales, on board the battleship.

Most of the navy's ships joined Almirante Latorre in the mutiny, but they surrendered five days after it began when an air strike was mounted by government forces.

[52][53][54] With Chile still in the midst of the depression, Almirante Latorre was deactivated at Talcahuano in 1933 to lessen government expenditures,[55] and only a caretaker crew was assigned to tend to the mothballed ship into the mid-1930s.

[18][19] Almirante Latorre was taken under tow by the tug Cambrian Salvos on 29 May 1959,[18][51] and reached Yokohama, Japan, at the end of August,[39][51][60][I] though the scrapping process did not begin immediately on arrival.

For the next seven months, Eagle was used for anti-raider patrols, but when one of its own aircraft bombs exploded on board in March 1940, the carrier was forced to sail to Singapore for repairs.

The refit lasted from October 1941 to February 1942, and it was quickly sent to reinforce Force H. It was employed to ferry fighters to Malta in attempts to keep the besieged island under British control.

As part of this duty, it was used to cover a convoy in August 1942 (Operation Pedestal); during the voyage, Eagle was sunk in four minutes by four torpedoes from the German submarine U-73.

[62] Almirante Latorre closely resembled the British Iron Duke class, the major difference being that the Chilean ship was longer, had less forecastle but more quarterdeck, and had larger funnels along with an aft mast.

Built by the Elswick Ordnance Company, the guns were able to fire a 1,586-pound (719 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1507 ft/s (764 m/s) to a maximum range of 24,400 yards (22,300 m).

[66] The secondary battery was originally composed of sixteen 6-inch Mark XI, two 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns, four 3-pounders, and four submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes.

[28][64] Almirante Latorre was powered by steam turbines manufactured by Brown–Curtis and Parsons, which put out 37,000 shaft horsepower, and 21 Yarrow boilers.