For the survey ship, see ARA Comodoro Rivadavia (Q-11).

ARA Rivadavia
Career Argentine Navy
Name: Rivadavia
Namesake: Bernardino Rivadavia
Builder: Fore River Shipbuilding
Company
Laid down: 25 May 1910
Launched: 26 August 1911
Commissioned: 27 August 1914
Decommissioned: 1952
Fate: Sold to Italy for scrapping in
1957, scrapped later
General characteristics
Type: Rivadavia-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]

Beam: 98 ft 4.5 in (29.985 m)
[1]

Draft: 27 ft 8.5 in (8.446 m)
[1]

Propulsion:
3-shaft, Curtis geared turbines,
18 Babcock & Wilcox boilers;
40,000 shp (29,828 kW)
[1]

Speed: 22.5 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:
12 12-inch (305 mm) guns
[1]

12 6-inch (152 mm) guns
[1]

16 4-inch (102 mm) guns
[1]

2 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo
tubes
[1]

Armor:
Belt: 1210 inches (300
250 mm)
[1]

Turrets: 12 inches (305 mm)
[1]

Casemates: 9
1/3
6
1/5
inches
(238159 mm)
[1]

Conning tower: 12 inches
(300 mm)
[1]

ARA Rivadavia
[A]
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 "dreadnought"
warships as part of a larger naval construction program. Argentina quickly responded, as the
Brazilian ships outclassed anything in the Argentine fleet. After an extended bidding process,
contracts to design and build Rivadavia and Moreno were given to the American 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.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Construction and trials
3 Attempted sale
4 Service
5 Footnotes
6 Endnotes
7 References
8 External links
Background[edit]
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 Patagonia and Puna de Atacama, along
with control of the Beagle Channel. These arms races flared up in the 1890s and again in 1902; the
latter was eventually stopped through British mediation. Provisions in the dispute-ending treaty
imposed restrictions on both countries' navies. The United Kingdom's Royal Navy bought the
twoConstitucin-class pre-dreadnought battleships that were being built for Chile, and Argentina sold
its two Rivadavia-classarmored cruisers under construction in Italy to Japan.
[3][4]

After HMS Dreadnought was commissioned by the United Kingdom, Brazil decided in early 1907 to
halt the construction of three obsolescent pre-dreadnoughts and begin work on
two dreadnoughts (the Minas Geraes class).
[5]
These ships, which were designed to carry the
heaviest battleship armament in the world at the time,
[6]
came as a shock to the navies of South
America,
[5]
and Argentina and Chile quickly canceled the 1902 armament-limiting pact.
[7]
Argentina in
particular was alarmed at the possible power of the ships. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel
Augusto Montes de Oca, remarked that even oneMinas Geraes-class ship could destroy the entire
Argentine and Chilean fleets.
[8]
While this may have been hyperbole, either one was much more
powerful than any single vessel in the Argentinian fleet.
[9]
Debates raged in Argentina over whether
to spend more than two million pounds sterling to acquire dreadnoughts. With further border
disputes, particularly with Brazil near the Ro de la Plata (River Plate), Argentina made plans to
contract for their own dreadnoughts. After an extended bidding process, Rivadavia and Moreno were
ordered from the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in the United States.
[1][10]

Construction and trials[edit]
Laid down on 25 May 1910, Rivadavia was launched and christened on 26 August 1911 by Isabel,
the wife of the Argentine Minister to the United States Rmulo Sebastin Nan. 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]

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,
[12]
the dreadnought was able to obtain a
maximum speed of 22.567 knots (25.970 mph; 41.794 km/h).
[13]
On a 30-hour endurance trial
starting the next day, Rivadavia damaged one of her turbines and had to put in at President Roads,
one of Boston Harbor's deep-water anchorages.
[12]
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.
[14]

Attempted sale[edit]
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.
[15]
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,
[16]
and The New York Times reported in late 1913 that the country had received several
offers from interested parties.
[13]
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.
[17]

After socialist gains in the legislature, the Argentine government introduced several bills in May 1914
which would have put the battleships up for sale, but the bills were all defeated by late June.
Following the commencement of the First World War, the German and British ambassadors to the
United States both complained to the US State Department; the former believed that the British were
going to be given the ships as soon as the ships reached Argentina, and the latter considered it the
responsibility of the United States to ensure that the ships never left Argentina's possession.
International armament companies attempted to get Argentina to sell to one of the
smaller Balkancountries and expected that the ships would then find their way into the war.
[18][B]

Service[edit]
Rivadavia was commissioned into the Armada de la Repblica Argentina on 27 August 1914 at
the Charlestown Navy Yard,
[19][20]
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.
[19]

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.
[19]
Rivadavia then
took on a load of gold bullion and brought it back to Argentina, docking in Puerto Belgrano on 23
September 1918.
[19][21]
In December 1920, Rivadaviaparticipated in ceremonies that marked the
400th anniversary of the discovery of the Strait of Magellan. On the 2nd, the ship called
on Valparaso in Chile; 25 days later, it took part in an international naval review. Two years
later, Rivadavia was placed into reserve.
[19]

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".
[22]
A new fire-control system was fitted with rangefinders on the fore and aft superfiring
turrets, and the aft mast was replaced by a tripod. A funnel cap was installed so that smoke from the
funnels did not interfere with accurate rangefinding of enemy ships. The 6-inch secondary armament
was retained, but the smaller 4-inch guns were taken off in favor of four 3-inch (76 mm) anti-
aircraft guns and four 3-pounders.
[23][24]

After sailing back to Argentina in March and April 1926,
[25]
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.
[19]



Rivadavia on her speed trials
In January 1937, the ship called on Valparaso and Callao in Peru. In company
with Moreno, Rivadavia left Puerto Belgrano for Europe on 6 April. After crossing the ocean, they
split up, with Rivadavia mooring at the French port of Brest while Moreno took part in the
BritishCoronation Review in Spithead. The two ships then journeyed to several German ports: both
put in at Wilhelmshaven before Rivadaviawent to Hamburg and Moreno to Bremen. They returned to
Argentina on 29 June.
[19]

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.
[19]
Her
next cruise came after the war ended (29 October to 22 December 1946), when she 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 her 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 she
wasstricken 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. She was thereafter broken up
in Genoa.
[19]

Footnotes[edit]
1. Jump up^ "ARA" is an acronym for Armada de la Repblica Argentina.
2. Jump up^ 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."
[18]
Turning over the ships was likely meant as
a way around the United States' neutrality rules.
Endnotes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s
Scheina, "Argentina," 401.
2. Jump up^ Whitley, Battleships, 19.
3. Jump up^ Scheina, Naval History, 4552.
4. Jump up^ Garrett, "Beagle Channel Dispute," 8688.
5. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Whitley, Battleships, 24.
6. Jump up^ "Germany may buy English warships," The New York Times, 1 August 1908, C8.
7. Jump up^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 32.
8. Jump up^ Martins Filho, "Colossos do mares," 76.
9. Jump up^ Scheina, "Argentina," 400.
10. Jump up^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 33.
11. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
"Launch Rivadavia, Biggest Battleship," The New York Times, 27 August 1911,
7.
12. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
"Accident to Rivadavia," The New York Times, 19 September 1913, 1.
13. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
"Argentine Warship Makes 22.56 Knots," The New York Times, 17 September
1917, 2.
14. Jump up^ "The Rivadavia Delayed," The New York Times, 24 August 1914, 7.
15. Jump up^ "Germany Will Buy Two Battleships," Toronto World, 10 August 1914, 12.
16. Jump up^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 45.
17. Jump up^ Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 4546.
18. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Livermore, "Battleship Diplomacy," 4647.
19. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i
Whitley, Battleships, 21.
20. Jump up^ "Argentina's Ship Ready," The New York Times, 28 August 1914, 7.
21. Jump up^ "Orders the Rivadavia to Bring Gold," The New York Times, 7 October 1918, 12.
22. Jump up^ Scheina, "Argentina," 402.
23. Jump up^ Whitley, Battleships, 2122.
24. Jump up^ Burzaco and Ortz, Acorazados y Cruceros, 94.
25. Jump up^ "Rivadavia Off For Home," The New York Times, 15 March 1926, 12.
References[edit]

Battleships portal
Burzaco, Ricardo and Patricio Ortz. Acorazados y Cruceros de la Armada Argentina, 18811992. Buenos
Aires: Eugenio B. Ediciones, 1997. ISBN 987-96764-0-8.OCLC 39297360.
Martins, Joo Roberto, Filho. "Colossos do mares [Colossuses of the Seas]." Revista de Histria da
Biblioteca Nacional 3, no. 27 (2007): 7477. ISSN 1808-4001. OCLC 61697383.
Garrett, James L. "The Beagle Channel Dispute: Confrontation and Negotiation in the Southern
Cone." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 27, no. 3 (1985):, 81
109.JSTOR 165601. ISSN 0022-1937. OCLC 2239844.
Livermore, Seward W. "Battleship Diplomacy in South America: 19051925." The Journal of Modern
History 16, no. 1 (1944):, 3144. JSTOR 1870986. ISSN 0022-2801. OCLC 62219150.
Scheina, Robert L. "Argentina" in Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 19061921, edited by Robert
Gardiner and Randal Gray, 400402. Annapolis, Maryland, United States: Naval Institute Press,
1984. ISBN 0-87021-907-3. OCLC 12119866.
. Latin America: A Naval History 18101987. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87021-
295-8. OCLC 15696006.
Whitley, M.J. Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland, United
States: Naval Institute Press, 1998. ISBN 1-55750-184-X. OCLC 40834665.
External links[edit]