Armada de la República Argentina: ARA Rivadavia, ARA Moreno
After HMS Dreadnought was commissioned, Brazil decided in early 1907 to halt three obsolescent pre-dreadnoughts which were under construction in favor of two or three dreadnoughts. These ships, which were designed to carry the heaviest battleship armament in the world at the time, came as an abrupt shock to the navies of South America, and Argentina and Chile quickly canceled the 1902 armament-limiting pact. Argentina in particular was alarmed at the possible power of the ships. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel Augusto Montes de Oca, remarked that even one Minas Geraes-class ship could destroy the entire Argentine and Chilean fleets. While this may have been hyperbole, either one was much more powerful than any single vessel in the Argentine fleet. Although debates raged in Argentina over whether it would be prudent to counter Brazil’s purchase by acquiring their own dreadnoughts, which would cost upwards of two million pounds sterling, further border disputes – particularly near the River Plate with Brazil – decided the matter, and they ordered Rivadavia and Moreno from the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in the United States. (Wikipedia)
ARA Rivadavia was an Argentine battleship built during the South American dreadnought race. Named after the first Argentine president, Bernardino Rivadavia, it was the lead ship of its class. Moreno was Rivadavia’s only sister ship.
(Library of Congress Photo)
ARA Rivadavia, 14 September 1913.
In 1907, the Brazilian government placed an order for two of the powerful new “dreadnought” warships as part of a larger naval construction program. Argentina quickly responded, as the Brazilian ships outclassed anything in the Argentine fleet. After an extended bidding process, contracts to design and build Rivadavia and Moreno were given to the American Fore River Shipbuilding Company. During their construction, there were rumors that the ships might be sold to a country engaged in the First World War, but both were commissioned into the Argentine Navy. Rivadavia underwent extensive refits in the United States in 1924 and 1925. The ship saw no active service during the Second World War, and its last cruise was made in 1946. Stricken from the naval register in 1957, Rivadavia was sold later that year and broken up for scrap starting in 1959. (Wikipedia)
ARA Moreno
(Library of Congress Photo)
Argentine Navy battleship ARA Moreno in Dry Dock no. 4 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York City, where it was being painted, October 1914.
ARA Moreno was a dreadnought battleship designed by the American Fore River Shipbuilding Company for the Argentine Navy. Named after Mariano Moreno, a key member of the first independent government of Argentina, the First Assembly (Primera Junta), Moreno was the second dreadnought of the Rivadavia class, and the fourth built during the South American dreadnought race.
Argentina placed orders for Moreno and its only sister ship, Rivadavia, in reply to a Brazilian naval building program. During their construction, the two dreadnoughts were subject to numerous rumors involving Argentina selling the two battleships to a country engaged in the First World War, but these proved to be false. After Moreno was completed in March 1915, a series of engine problems occurred during the sea trials which delayed its delivery to Argentina to May 1915. The next decade saw the ship based in Puerto Belgrano as part of the Argentine Navy’s First Division before sailing to the United States for an extensive refit in 1924 and 1925. During the 1930s the ship was occupied with diplomatic cruises to Brazil, Uruguay, and Europe until the Second World War broke out. During this time, Moreno was employed little as Argentina was neutral. Decommissioned in 1949, Moreno was scrapped in Japan beginning in 1957. (Wikipedia)