ARA Rivadavia

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For other ships with the same name, see List of ships named ARA Rivadavia.

ARA Rivadavia
History
NameRivadavia
NamesakeBernardino Rivadavia
Builder
Fore River Shipbuilding Company
Laid down25 May 1910
Launched26 August 1911
Commissioned27 August 1914
Decommissioned1952
FateSold to Italy for scrapping in 1957
General characteristics
Class and typeRivadavia-class battleship
Displacement
  • 27,500 long tons (27,900 t)
    standard
    ,
  • 30,100 long tons (30,600 t)
    full load[1]
Length
  • 594 ft 9 in (181.28 m) oa,
  • 585 ft (178 m) pp[1]
Beam98 ft 4.5 in (29.985 m)[1]
Draft27 ft 8.5 in (8.446 m)[1]
Propulsion
Speed22.5 knots (25.9 mph; 41.7 km/h)[1]
Range
  • 7,000 nautical miles (8,100 mi; 13,000 km) at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h)[1]
  • 11,000 nautical miles (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) at 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h)[1]
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 12–10 inches (300–250 mm)[1]
  • Turrets: 12 inches (305 mm)[1]
  • Casemates: 91/3–61/5 inches (238–159 mm)[1]
  • Conning tower: 12 inches (300 mm)[1]

ARA Rivadavia (Spanish: [riβaˈðaβja]) was an Argentine battleship built during the South American dreadnought race. Named after the first Argentine president, Bernardino Rivadavia,[2] it was the lead ship of its class. Moreno was Rivadavia's only sister ship.

In 1907, the Brazilian government placed an order for two of the powerful new "

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.

Background

Main article: South American dreadnought race

Rivadavia's genesis can be traced to the naval arms races between Chile and Argentina which were spawned by territorial disputes over their mutual borders in

pre-dreadnought battleships that were being built for Chile, and Argentina sold its two Rivadavia-class armored cruisers under construction in Italy to Japan.[3][4]

After

Fore River Shipbuilding Company in the United States.[1][10]

Construction and trials

launched and christened on 26 August 1911 by Isabel, the wife of the Argentine Minister to the United States Rómulo Sebastián Naón. Thousands of people were present to witness the event,[1][11] including representatives from the Argentine Navy and the country's legation in Washington. The United States sent the assistant chief of the Latin American Division in the State Department, Henry L. James, to be its official representative. Two United States Navy bureau chiefs also attended.[11]

It was reported in January 1913 that apart from the usual

Victrola phonographs apiece were included as part of the official specifications.[12]

In mid-September 1913, Rivadavia conducted trials off Rockland, Maine, after a two-week delay due to turbine malfunctions. During speed trials on the 16th,[13] the dreadnought was able to obtain a maximum speed of 22.567 knots (25.970 mph; 41.794 km/h).[14] On a 30-hour endurance trial starting the next day, Rivadavia damaged one of its turbines and had to put in at President Roads, one of Boston Harbor's deep-water anchorages.[13] The turbines were still a problem as late as August 1914. One was dropped by a crane in July and had to be removed for repairs in August.[15]

Attempted sale

External images
image icon Rivadavia in South Boston
image icon Rivadavia in dry dock
image icon Rivadavia in 1915 via a 1939 postcard
image icon Details of Rivadavia's midship arrangement
image icon Rivadavia and Moreno at Fore River

Over the course of their construction, Rivadavia and Moreno had been the subject of rumors that Argentina would accept the ships and then sell them to Japan, a fast-growing military rival to the United States, or to a European country.[16] The rumors were partially true; some in the government were looking to get rid of the battleships and devote the proceeds to opening more schools,[17] and The New York Times reported in late 1913 that the country had received several offers from interested parties.[14] This angered the American government, which did not want its warship technology offered to the highest bidder. Neither did they want to exercise a contract-specified option that gave the United States first choice if the Argentines decided to sell, as naval technology had already progressed past the Rivadavia class, particularly in the adoption of the "all-or-nothing" armor scheme. Instead, the United States and its State Department and Navy Department put diplomatic pressure on the Argentine government.[18]

After

Balkan countries and expected that the ships would then find their way into the war.[19][A]

Service

Rivadavia was commissioned into the Armada de la República Argentina on 27 August 1914 at the Charlestown Navy Yard,[20][21] although it was not fully completed until December.[1] On 23 December 1914, Rivadavia left the United States for Argentina. It arrived in its capital, Buenos Aires, on 19 February 1915. Over 47,000 people came out to see the new ship over the next three days, including the President Victorino de la Plaza. In April 1915, Rivadavia was put into the training division of the Navy, remaining there until 1917, when the navy transferred the ship into the First Division. In 1917, Rivadavia sailed to Comodoro Rivadavia when communist oil workers went on strike.[20]

Later in 1917, the Argentines had to sharply curtail Rivadavia's activities because of a fuel shortage, but they voyaged to the United States with the Argentine ambassador in 1918.

naval review. Two years later, Rivadavia was placed into reserve.[20]

In 1923, the Navy decided to send Rivadavia to the United States to be modernized. The ship departed on 6 August 1924 and reached Boston on the 30th, where it spent the next two years. Rivadavia was converted to use fuel oil instead of coal and had "a general machinery overhaul".

3-pounders.[24][25]

After sailing back to Argentina in March and April 1926,[26] Rivadavia spent the remainder of the year undergoing sea trials. The dreadnought joined the training division once again in 1927, but after Rivadavia made four training cruises, the division was disbanded, and the ship remained moored in Puerto Belgrano until 1929. This began a series of cyclic activity followed by being demoted to the reserve fleet. Although active in both 1929 and 1930, Rivadavia was placed in reserve on 19 December 1930. Shortly thereafter, it was restored to active service to serve as the flagship for 1931 fleet exercises. Rivadavia went back into reserve in 1932 before coming back out in January 1933. It remained in full commission for most of the rest of the decade as part of the Battleship Division, alongside Moreno.[20]

Rivadavia on its speed trials

In January 1937, the ship called on Valparaíso and

Coronation Review in Spithead. The two ships then journeyed to several German ports: both put in at Wilhelmshaven before Rivadavia went to Hamburg and Moreno to Bremen. They returned to Argentina on 29 June.[20]

While Rivadavia made an official visit to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1939, Argentina remained neutral for the majority of the Second World War, and the aging dreadnought saw no active service.[20] Its next cruise came after the war ended (29 October to 22 December 1946), when it called on countries in the Caribbean and northern South America, including Trinidad, Venezuela, and Colombia. This was the last time the ship would be in service under its own power. Moored in Puerto Belgrano from 1948 on, the ship was rendered inoperable in 1951 and cannibalized for many years for useful arms and equipment. On 18 October 1956, the ship was listed for disposal, and it was stricken from the Navy on 1 February 1957. On 30 May, Rivadavia was sold to an Italian ship breaking company for US$2,280,000. Beginning on 3 April 1959, the ship was towed by two tugboats to Savona, Italy, where they arrived on 23 May. It was thereafter broken up in Genoa.[20]

Footnotes

  1. ^ The specific example given in Livermore, footnote 106, is that a "group of French bankers, on behalf of the Russian government, were offering in gold twice the contract price of the ships, which were to be turned over to Greece."[19] Turning over the ships was likely meant as a way around the United States' neutrality rules.

Endnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Scheina, "Argentina," 401.
  2. ^ Whitley, Battleships, 19.
  3. ^ Scheina, Naval History, 45–52.
  4. ^ Garrett, "Beagle Channel Dispute," 86–88.
  5. ^ a b Whitley, Battleships, 24.
  6. ^ "Germany may buy English warships," The New York Times, 1 August 1908, C8.
  7. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.
  8. ^ Martins Filho, "Colossos do mares," 76.
  9. ^ Scheina, "Argentina," 400.
  10. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 33.
  11. ^ a b "Launch Rivadavia, Biggest Battleship," The New York Times, 27 August 1911, 7.
  12. ^ "Victrolas for Battleships". The Talking Machine World. 9 (1): 3b [pdf 11]. 15 January 1913. For a picture of a typical Victrola model, see Weyman Mandolute Quartette 1913.
  13. ^ a b "Accident to Rivadavia," The New York Times, 19 September 1913, 1.
  14. ^ a b "Argentine Warship Makes 22.56 Knots," The New York Times, 17 September 1917, 2.
  15. ^ "The Rivadavia Delayed," The New York Times, 24 August 1914, 7.
  16. Toronto World
    , 10 August 1914, 12.
  17. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 45.
  18. ^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 45–46.
  19. ^ a b Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 46–47.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i Whitley, Battleships, 21.
  21. ^ "Argentina's Ship Ready," The New York Times, 28 August 1914, 7.
  22. ^ "Orders the Rivadavia to Bring Gold," The New York Times, 7 October 1918, 12.
  23. ^ Scheina, "Argentina," 402.
  24. ^ Whitley, Battleships, 21–22.
  25. ^ Burzaco and Ortíz, Acorazados y Cruceros, 94.
  26. ^ "Rivadavia Off For Home," The New York Times, 15 March 1926, 12.

References

External links

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