Royal Navy dreadnought battleship: HMS Canada / Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile): Almirante Latorre
(Library of Congress Photo)
Armada de Chile battleship Almirante Latorre, 1923.
Almirante Latorre, named after Juan José Latorre, was a dreadnought battleship built for the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile). It was the first of a planned two-ship class that would respond to earlier warship purchases by other South American countries. 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. Commissioned in September 1915, it served in the Grand Fleet as HMS Canada for the duration of the war and saw action during the Battle of Jutland.
Chile repurchased Canada in 1920 and renamed it Almirante Latorre. The ship was designated as Chile’s flagship, and frequently served as a presidential transport. It underwent a thorough modernization in the United Kingdom in 1929–1931. In September 1931, crewmen aboard Almirante Latorre instigated a mutiny, which the majority of the Chilean fleet quickly joined. After divisions developed between the mutineers, the rebellion fell apart and the ships returned to government control. 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. The Chilean government declined the overture and the ship spent most of the Second World War on patrol for Chile. Almirante Latorre was scrapped in Japan beginning in 1959. (Wikipedia)
(Royal Navy Photo)
HMS Canada, 1915.
(Royal Navy Photo)
HMS Canada, 1915.
(IWM Photo, SP 1938)
HMS Canada underway during the First World War.
(Royal Navy Photo)
HMS Canada during the First World War.
(Royal Navy Photo)
HMS Canada during the First World War.
(Tormentor4555 Photo)
Crew of HMS Canada during the First World War.
(U.S. National Archives Photo)
Armada de Chile battleship Almirante Latorre, view from the bow.
(Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Armada de Chile battleship Almirante Latorre, 1931.
(Armada de Chile Photo)
Chilean dreadnought & Jutland/Skagerrak veteran Almirante Latorre (ex-HMS Canada) in Yokosuka, Japan, for scrapping, 10 September 1959. Her secondary battery has already been removed, as well as her anchors. Components from this battleship were used to repair the mauled memorial battleship Mikasa. Mikasa and Almirante Latorre were both British-built prior to the First World War, fittings and equipment were roughly similar enough to replace looted, scrapped, or otherwise missing components that Mikasa lost during post-Second World War Allied Occupation. (Haze Gray History)