"'Almirante Latorre', named after Juan José Latorre, was a super-dreadnought battleship built for the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile). She was the first of a planned two-ship class that would respond to earlier warship purchases by other South American countries. Construction began by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne soon after the ship was ordered in November 1911, and was approaching completion when she was bought by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy for use in the First World War. Commissioned in September 1915, she served in the Grand Fleet as HMS Canada for the duration of the war and saw action during the Battle of Jutland."[1]
1919 " COMPLETE success attended the launch on Thursday last, November 27th, from the Elswick shipyard of the battleship 2Almirante Latorre', the first of the two Dreadnoughts which the firm of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Limited, is building for the Chilean Government.
The principal dimensions of the Almirante Latorre are :- Length 625ft., beam 92ft., mean draught 28ft. 6in., and displacement 28,000 tons. The main propelling machinery is being manufactured by John Brown and Co., Limited of Clydebank, and the battleship is designed to steam at a speed of 23 knots.
The main armament will comprise ten l4in. guns, and the secondary armament sixteen 6in. guns, four 3in. guns, two 76 mm. 12-pounder boat guns, and four Maxim machine guns, making a total main and secondary armament of thirty-six guns. There will be, besides, four 21in. submerged torpedo tubes. The whole of the armament is being manufactured by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Limited, at Elswick, whilst the armour plate employed in the construction of the battleship is being made at Openshaw. She and her sister battleship Almirante Cochrane-the keel of which was laid at Elswick in January last on the berth vacated by the Brazilian first-class battleship Rio de Janeiro-are the largest vessels which have ever been constructed by Armstrong's. They will, of course, be the largest and most powerful ships in the Chilean navy, and each will carry a total crew of 1075. [2]