The ship was ordered by the Chilean Navy, but she was purchased by the United Kingdom as part of ending the Argentine–Chilean naval arms race.

Triumph was ordered by Chile, with the name of Libertad, in response to the Argentine purchase of two armoured cruisers from Italy during a time of heightened tensions with Argentina.

After the crisis subsided, financial problems forced Chile to put the ship up for sale in early 1903; concerned that Russia might buy them, the United Kingdom stepped in and with financing via merchant bank Antony Gibbs & Sons purchased the still-incomplete ships from Chile on 3 December 1903 for £2,432,000 (£330,000,000 in 2025).

The ship was designed to Chilean specifications, particularly the requirement to fit in the graving dock at Talcahuano, and was regarded by the British as a second-class battleship.

A dozen Yarrow water-tube boilers provided steam to the engines which produced a total of 12,500 indicated horsepower (9,300 kW) which was intended to allow them to reach a speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph).

[5] She carried a maximum of 2,048 long tons (2,081 t) of coal, enough to steam 6,210 nautical miles (11,500 km; 7,150 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[2] In service she and her sister proved to be more economical than first thought with an estimated range of 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 10 knots.

[8] A major problem with the guns on the main deck was that they were mounted low in the ship—only about 10 feet (3 m) above water at deep load—and were unusable at high speed or in heavy weather as they dipped their muzzles in the sea when rolling more than 14°.

The waterline main belt was composed of Krupp cemented armour (KCA) 7 inches (178 mm) thick.

[13] HMS Triumph was ordered by Chile as Libertad and laid down by Vickers, Sons & Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness on 26 February 1902 and launched on 15 January 1903, when she was named by Mme de Gana, wife of the Chilean Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom.

[15] Triumph was recommissioned using the crews of demobilised river gunboats, supplemented with two officers, 100 ratings, and six signallers from the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and was ready for sea on 6 August 1914.

On the evening of 21 August, Triumph captured the German merchant ship Frisia, also carrying coal and cattle.

[18] On 23 August 1914, she was attached to the Imperial Japanese Navy's Second Fleet,[16] and after disembarking her Army volunteers at Weihai,[19] participated in the campaign against the German colony at Qingdao.

She, Albion, and Majestic were the first Allied battleships to enter the Turkish Straits during the campaign when they carried out the initial attack on the inner forts on 26 February.

[15] Triumph participated in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March, and fired on Ottoman trenches at Achi Baba on 15 April.

On the night of 18 April, one of her picket boats and one from Majestic, both armed with torpedoes mounted in dropping gear, attacked the British submarine E15, which had stranded beneath Fort Dardanos and was being salvaged by German and Ottoman forces; a torpedo from the Majestic boat destroyed the submarine.

On 25 May 1915, Triumph was underway off Gaba Tepe, firing on Ottoman positions, with torpedo nets out and most watertight doors shut, when she sighted a submarine periscope 300 to 400 yards (270 to 370 m) off her starboard beam at about 1230 hours.