| Almirante-class destroyer | |
|---|---|
 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: |
2 × Babcock and Wilcox boilers Parsons geared turbines 2 shafts 54,000 hp (40,268 kW) |
| 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) |
The Almirante class were two destroyers built for the Chilean Navy by Vickers in Barrow in Furness, UK, in 1960. They served until the late 1990s. They were fitted with a unique Vickers designed 4-inch dual purpose naval gun. The ships were modernised in Britain in 1975, and decommissioned in the late 1990s.
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 Thronycroft (Freedman 2006) with the Vickers design 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 the two Condell class frigates a derivative of the Leander class frigate instead.
Ships[]
| Pennant | Name | Named after | Completed | Decommissioned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DDG-18 | Almirante Riveros | Galvarino Riveros | 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
References[]
- Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995
- N.Freedman, British Destroyers and Frigates, Seaforth Publishing 2006
- Ship-Pics
- Riveros, Chilean Navy site (Spanish)
- Williams, Chilean Navy site (Spanish)
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The original article can be found at Almirante-class destroyer and the edit history here.