Construction began at Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne soon after the ship was ordered in November 1911, and was approaching completion when it was bought by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy for use in the First World War.

Almirante Latorre was placed in reserve for a time in the 1930s because of the Great Depression, but it was in good enough condition to receive interest from the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In the 1880s, an Argentine–Chilean naval arms race began after territorial disputes over the two country's mutual borders in Patagonia and Puna de Atacama, along with control of the Beagle Channel.

The United Kingdom's Royal Navy bought two Constitución-class pre-dreadnought battleships that were being built for Chile, and Argentina sold its two Rivadavia-class armored cruisers under construction in Italy to Japan.

[13] The New York Tribune reported on 2 November 1913 that Greece had reached an accord to purchase Almirante Latorre during a war scare with the Ottoman Empire,[14] but despite a developing sentiment within Chile to sell one or both of the dreadnoughts, no deal was made.

[15][16][B] Almirante Latorre was launched on 27 November 1913,[18][19][C] 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.

[10] After the First World War broke out in Europe, Almirante Latorre was formally purchased by the United Kingdom on 9 September 1914;[9][18][20][21] it was not forcibly seized like other ships being built in British yards for foreign navies (such as the battleships Reşadiye and Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel for the Ottoman Empire) because the Allies' reliance on Chilean sodium nitrate for munitions made retention of Chile's "friendly neutral" status with the United Kingdom a matter of vital importance.

[D] The news that Chile could possibly acquire those two capital ships started an 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.

[10] After the fall of the January Junta in 1925, the dreadnought hosted the returning President Alessandri during a fleet review 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".

[32] Despite the goodwill brought on by the removal of the authoritarian[33] President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo in July 1931, Chile could not overcome the Great Depression's severe economic effects, and wages for civil servants making over 3,000 pesos a year were cut by 12–30 percent to reduce government expenditures.

[34][35][36] Shortly after midnight on 1 September, the junior crew members of Almirante Latorre, an armored cruiser (O'Higgins), seven destroyers, and a few submarines took over their ships while many of their shipmates were watching a boxing tournament in La Serena.

[F] 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 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.

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.

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.

[42][43][44] Still in the midst of the depression, Almirante Latorre was deactivated at Talcahuano in 1933 to lessen government expenditures,[45] and only a caretaker crew was assigned to tend to the mothballed ship into the mid-1930s.

[47] Almirante Latorre was never fully modernized, however, and by the Second World War its main battery was comparatively short-ranged and its armor protection, designed before the "all or nothing" principle was put into practice, was wholly inadequate.

[9][10] On 29 May 1959, to the salutes of the assembled Chilean fleet, the old dreadnought was taken under tow by the tug Cambrian Salvos,[10][32] and reached Yokohama, Japan, at the end of August,[18][32][51][H] though the scrapping process did not begin immediately on arrival.

[18] A large number of parts from Almirante Latorre were used in the restoration of the Mikasa, which had seen substantial alterations and badly deteriorated after World War II.