The dreadnought Latorre displaces 28,000 tons, has a length of 125 feet, beam of 92 feet, and draws 28 feet of water. She carries 30 guns of 14 inches, 3 inches and 4 inches, as well as a number of machine-guns and four torpedo tubes. Her speed is 23 knots, and her full crew 1075 men. She burns coal and has a bunker capacity of 1200 tons. The five new destroyers each displace 1850 tons, are 320 feet long, are armed with six 4-inch guns, and have a speed of over 31 knots; bunker capacity, 507 tons of coal; crew, 176. These vessels were laid down in accord with the plans created for the modernisation of the Chilean fleet in 1910, and their incorporation into the navy of Chile renders this country the possessor of an excellent fighting squadron, equipped in consonance with the experiences of the great war.
The possession of good modern vessels of war is one thing; adequate operation of them is quite another, as more than one young nation has discovered to her cost. In Chile, however, a traditional naval feeling has existed for a century, aided by the inheritance of a considerable proportion of blood from British seamen, and the work of a group of British naval instructors who were mainly responsible for efficient development in the service—as the German military instructors moulded at least the exterior of the army in the years before the war.
When I had the pleasure of visiting Chilean naval vessels in Talcahuano in 1920 at the invitation of the genial Admiral Fontaine, it was difficult to realise that the sturdy and well-groomed young officers, many of them bearers of British names, clad in replicas of the British uniform, were going to a foreign country when they set out, a few days later, to fetch back from Britain the new Chilean ships of war.
The Chilean fleet in early 1922 consisted of two battleships, the French-built Prat (acquired 1890), with a war strength of 466 men, and the British-built Latorre (1913–20) carrying about 1100 crew; the two armoured cruisers, the O’Higgins and the Esmeralda, were constructed at Elswick in 1897, carrying nearly 600 men each; three cruisers of another type, the Blanco, Chacabuco and Zenteno, were built in the same yards following the acquisition in 1890 of the French-built Errazuriz. In addition to these large vessels, Chile has two torpedo cruisers built by Laird in 1890; the Tomé and Talcahuano; five modern destroyers (flotilla leaders) constructed between 1912 and 1914; seven older destroyers (the Thompson, O’Brien, Jarpa Gamero, Orella, Riquelme and Serrano, carrying 88 men each) built at Laird’s; five torpedo-boats (Contreras, Hyatt, Mutilla, Rodrigue and Videla) built in 1896 in the Yarrow yards, carrying 36 men each, war strength; the six new submarines referred to above, built by the Electric Boat Company, Ltd., in 1915, needing a total war strength of 108 men; one training ship, the General Baquedano, built at Elswick in 1898, a schooner with auxiliary engines, carrying 253 men; three transports, the Rancagua, Maipo and Angamos, with a complement of 86 men each; one sailing ship, the Lautaro, built in Glasgow in 1896; ten patrol boats, of which six older vessels were built on the Seine between 1890 and 1905, while four boats acquired in 1919 were built in Helsingfors. There is also still upon the list an old ironclad, the ex-Cochrane, built at Elswick in 1875, carrying a crew of 132 men.
Chile reckons the peace strength of her navy afloat and ashore at 8377 men, while the naval expenses amount to about 14,000,000 Chilean pesos; in war times the personnel would be increased by 1020 men, costs being brought up to 15,200,000 pesos. Naval reserves are calculated as 35 per cent over the war footing, as regards personnel, while in the event of hostilities aid of great practical value exists in the steamers of the Government-controlled Compañia Sud Americana, transformable into auxiliary cruisers.
A certain number of men are annually recruited compulsorily for one year’s service, but as these conscripts only amount to three or four hundred, the naval forces are chiefly made up of volunteers who enlist for three to ten years; many conscripts after serving their initial year elect to remain under this system. In a maritime country such as Chile seamanship is popular, and the navy never has difficulty in filling the lists with young men who are developed rapidly into smart and well-disciplined sailors. The naval schools of Chile are adequate and well equipped: in Valparaiso is a fine establishment training 200 cadets, of whom 20 to 30 are annually passed as junior naval officers; the Naval Academy, part of the same building, trains twelve higher rank officers. Also in Valparaiso is the Navigation School, passing about six officers yearly, and the School of Mechanics training 120 pupils is supplying yearly 30 to 40 petty officers. Cadets of the Naval School receive a second-class midshipman’s certificate after five years’ instruction, and are then sent to the Baquedano for advanced technical training and a 2000-mile sailing trip, before the first-class certificate is granted. It is significant of Chile’s high repute as a trainer of young sailors that cadets from several other South American countries are to be seen in Chilean naval schools.
Besides the Valparaiso establishments, Talcahuano has a Mechanical School for naval engineers, with 200 cadets in training; here also young officers obtain instruction in torpedo work and radiotelegraphy; this school turns out about 120 seamen, 30 wireless operators, and 20 midshipmen, as well as qualifying an average of 10 officers. On board the ex-Cochrane is a gunnery school, training 120 men every year; on the sailing-ship Lautaro is a school for training pilots of the Chilean merchant marine, as well as for the navy; the corvette Abtao is used as a training school for boys, and here 150 lads are prepared yearly, with the obligation of serving five years in the navy. The Baquedano corvette receives boys from the Abtao and midshipmen qualified from the Valparaiso school for a year’s voyage of instruction before they assume duty in the regular service.
Chile has four naval bases, at Arica, Valparaiso, Talcahuano, and Punta Arenas; the latter has none but mobile defences, since the Treaty made with Argentina at the time when boundary limits were settled stipulates that the Strait of Magellan shall not be fortified, a decision which will probably be modified in view of Chile’s undoubted right to protect the property and lives of her nationals in the rapidly developing district of Punta Arenas and a number of inlets and islands. No belligerent or other vessel would be prevented by Chilean fortifications from passing from Pacific to Atlantic waters or vice-versa, since the Cape Horn route offers open waters.
The Hydrographic Bureau attached to the Chilean navy has been responsible since its inception in 1874 for constant exploration and surveying work directed to all parts of the coast, but particularly to the intricate waterways of the south. Over 150 maps and charts have been published by this Bureau, constantly in communication with the equivalent services in the most advanced countries.
The three first-named naval bases possess fixed land defences, as well as movable and submarine defences; at the chief station, Talcahuano, are two dry docks, one of 45,000 tons and the older of 15,000 tons capacity, as well as a floating dock of 1200 tons. Arrangements are also made with private dockowners in Mejillones (Antofagasta) and Valparaiso for repairs when needed, the shipyards of Punta Arenas, Chiloé, Valdivia, and Constitución also offering useful help both as regards construction and repair work. In point of numerical strength, the Chilean navy is second only to that of Brazil, while as a matter of fighting record this service has been conspicuously successful on the three occasions when Chile has been at war during the last hundred years. Her history is firmly bound to her maritime tradition, and her political influence in the future will undoubtedly be considerably affected by her vigorous command of the sea.