Almirante-class destroyer

The Almirante class were two destroyers built for the Chilean Navy by Vickers in Barrow in Furness, UK, in 1960, named after admirals. Their weapons and largely Marconi sensors were in advance of the RN Daring class, but their internal layout resembled that of the Battle class.[1] They served until the late 1990s. They were fitted with a unique Vickers-designed 4-inch dual purpose naval gun, which fired up to 50rpm. The gun was in advance of the standard RN 4.5-inch guns, more automated and reliable than the Tiger-class 3- and 6-inch mounts, but not water-cooled. It was rejected for RN use because of doubt about its sustained firing, the large stocks of surplus WW2, single 4.5- and twin 4-inch guns which the RN claimed wrongly were close to the new 4-inch N(R) in performance, and mainly because it was a private out-of-house, Vickers design[2] The ships were modernised in Britain in 1975, and decommissioned in the late 1990s.

The destroyer Almirante Williams underway in the Strait of Magellan during UNITAS XXXII
Class overview
Builders: Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness
Operators:  Chilean Navy
In commission: 1960–1998
Planned: 2
Completed: 2
Retired: 2
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 2,730 long tons (2,774 t) standard
  • 3,300 long tons (3,353 t) full load
Length: 122.5 m (401 ft 11 in)
Beam: 13.1 m (43 ft 0 in)
Draught: 4 m (13 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:
Speed: 34.5 knots (63.9 km/h; 39.7 mph)
Range: 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement: 266 (17 officers)
Armament:
  • 4 single × 4 in (102 mm) Vickers Mark Q guns (4 × 1)
  • 5 × Bofors 40mm/70 (two were replaced by Seacat SAM launchers in 1964)
  • 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (replaced by 4 × Exocet missiles in 1975)
  • 2 × Squid ASW mortars
  • 6 × 324 mm (13 in) anti-submarine torpedo tubes (fitted in 1975)

Programme

Chile decided to upgrade its destroyer fleet in the early 1950s and turned to British yards to fulfill the order. Bids were received from Vickers and Thornycroft (Freedman 2006); the Vickers design was chosen. The order was announced in January 1954 and finalised in 1955. The sensors were a mixture of British- and Netherlands-made radars.

Chile had considered buying a second pair of destroyers in the mid-1960s (Freedman 2006) but instead purchased two Condell-class frigates, a derivative of the Leander class, instead.

Ships
Pennant Name Named after Completed Decommissioned
DDG-18 Almirante Riveros Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas 31 December 1960 Sunk as Target 1998
DDG-19 Almirante Williams Juan Williams Rebolledo 26 March 1960 Sunk as Target 1998

Vickers offered two similar ships to the Colombian Navy (Freedman 2006) but the Colombians bought two Halland-class destroyers from Sweden instead.

The destroyer Almirante Riveros sails off the coast of Chile during the multinational naval exercise UNITAS XXXII

Notes
  1. J.Wise. Securing the ripest plum. Britain and the South American naval export market 1945-75 in Warship 2013. Conway. London (2013).
  2. P.Marland. The Vickers 4-inch N(R) mounting in Warship 2013, Conway. London (2013)p 174-6

References
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