On December 7, 1930, thousands of Chilean people came to the pier to see the flagship of the Chilean Navy, Admiral Latol, sail for the battle. It is the only battleship currently in service in the Chilean Navy, built by the British shipyard Armstrong, which was forcibly requisitioned by the British Navy during www.biquge.info the Great War, but was not completed until the end of the war, so it was saved from the fate of the "Agincourt" to sleep on the bottom of the sea. After the signing of the Armistice Treaty in London, the battleship was completed and transferred to the Chilean Navy, becoming the only super-dreadnought ship in the navies of South America.

The South American War, initiated by Argentina and Paraguay, had been fought for more than a month, and with the strong military support of the European allies, the Afghan and Pakistani forces were in full swing on the battlefield: the Paraguayan army won successive battles and expelled the Bolivians from the Chaco region; The Argentine army feinted with troops and horses from the north and south, and the main force in the middle attacked Santiago, the capital of Chile. Chile's military strength is among the highest in South America, but its long and narrow territory is very undefensible, and the Argentine army has made careful preparations and deployments, and has fought with the wrath of the country, and by mid-November it has broken through the border defense of the Chilean army to the city of Santiago, and has set up heavy artillery to bombard indiscriminately, turning the prosperous Chilean capital into a burning ruin.

Half a century ago, in the South American Pacific War, Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia with one enemy and two enemies, seizing the highly valuable saltpeter and guano sources, thus establishing its status as a South American power. In the face of Argentina, which is dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry and has a vast territory but has always been poor, how can the heroic and martial Chileans be willing to fail? With the support of the US-British alliance, the Chilean government issued two successive ******, expanding the size of the army to more than 300,000, and actively dispatched troops to launch a ground counterattack against the Argentine army besieging Santiago.

In 1930, Argentina had a population of 11 million, nearly three times that of Chile, and weapons and ammunition were constantly being transported from across the ocean, and the Chileans would definitely suffer losses. In terms of the strength of the Argentine and Chilean navies, before the defection of the "Moreno", the Argentine navy with two dreadnoughts was a little stronger than Chile with one super dreadnought, but after the defection of the "Moreno", the Chilean navy was stronger than Argentina by the other.

The "Admiral Latore" sailed to the battlefield carrying the deep hopes of the Chilean military and civilians, and the "culprit" that ignited the South American war, the dreadnought "Moreno", which originally belonged to the Argentine Navy, was like a sick tiger in a zoo, lying motionless on the berth. At the time of the mutiny five months ago, there were 1,093 officers and men on board, and all but seven were killed for resisting the mutiny by force, and the rest arrived in Chile with the ship, but many of them only succumbed to the situation and did not really support former President Yrigoyen. During the period of fierce diplomatic conflict between Argentina and Chile, these soldiers, who had been listed as traitors by the Argentine government, had nowhere to go, and most of them were holding US dollars of unknown origin and watching the situation with trepidation. After Chile and Argentina officially entered a state of war, only more than 300 people were willing to remain in the port of Valparaiso, and these people alone were not enough to maintain the operation of the "Moreno", and it would take a long time for Chilean naval personnel and American "volunteers" to be able to fill the shortage of warships, and to fully familiarize themselves with its operation.

Watching the number one imaginary enemy for many years leave the harbor, the Argentine officers aboard the "Moreno" gathered on the aft deck and whispered.

"Can the Chilean fleet win this time?"

"If the opponent is the Argentine fleet led by General Palau, the Chileans should have a good chance of winning! As you know, that guy only has the ability to make sycophants, and few of his staff officers have goods, but if the rumors are true, the Argentine fleet is placed under the command of the German general named Paul-Beinck, and the result is difficult to say. ”

"If the German fleet enters the war, I am afraid that the Chilean fleet will not be able to return to port."

"I don't think the German fleet will go to war, and if they do, the United States will have an excuse to go to war. The United States could have gathered its entire navy in the waters of the Americas, but the Germans could not send more than half of their warships to South America, in which case the British navy, which was bent on waiting for an opportunity for revenge, would stab them in the back. ”

"In our current situation, we can only pray that the Chilean Navy wins, then Uriburu's regime can be overthrown and we have a chance to return to Argentina, otherwise ......"

At this point, the speaker sighed, and the rest of the officers were silent.

Four days later, the Chilean flagship Admiral Latole arrived in southern Chilean waters with her accompanying ships, where she joined the vigilant fleet waiting there. The entire fleet has 1 super dreadnought, 3 ironclad ships, 1 armored cruiser, 1 protective cruiser, 12 destroyers, 19 torpedo boats, 14 minelayers, and 1 seaplane carrier.

Admiral González, who commanded the Admiral Latol, was a veteran of the Chilean Navy, having studied at the prestigious Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and then serving in the British Navy for six years as an exchange officer, and had a good relationship with the British as commander of the British Grand Fleet at the beginning of the war. On his bridge, Admiral Lévis-Berry from the British Navy led a small group of capable British officers to advise the Chilean fleet, while several American officers accompanied him as military observers, making the relatively large space on the bridge seem crowded.

Once the Chilean fleet enters the Atlantic, where most of Argentina's territorial waters are located, from the perennial Pacific Ocean, the slight strength advantage will be offset by geographical factors, so the British staff group's advice to General Gonzalez is to fight and run, shell the port cities and military facilities along the Argentine coast with the main fleet, and use faster ships and submarines to break the engagement.

The Strait of Magellan is a natural waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, with steep walls on both sides, dense headlands and islands, mostly foggy winds in the gorge, high tides and rapids, and it is not easy to cross, but before the opening of the Panama Canal, it has always been an important shipping route between the two oceans, and most of the voyage is in Chile, and the pilot ships of Chile are very familiar with the sea conditions here. If you detour from the sea south of Cape Horn, not only will the voyage be long, but that sea area is famous for its high winds and waves, and the fleet will inevitably have to make a detour. Hearing that the Chilean army had broken through an important line of the Argentine army on the front line in Santiago, General González decided to make a quick decision, leading the fleet through the Strait of Magellan quickly, and after completing the combat mission, still returning from the strait, if the Argentine fleet pursued, he would lead it close to the Strait of Magellan and annihilate it.

The Strait of Magellan is more than 500 kilometers long, and the Chilean fleet sailed through it in the middle of South American summer, and the scorching sun illuminated every Chilean-flagged ship very clearly, which also facilitated the early warning and reconnaissance of Chilean planes. Knowing that the eastern end of the strait in Argentina was calm and sound, General González urged the fleet to speed up its speed, and on the other hand, he arranged for the fleet's operations after passing through the strait, and three old ironclads and the oldest destroyers carried out an artillery bombardment of the port of Rio Gallegos in southern Argentina, and lure the main Argentine fleet south.

On the evening of December 14, 1930, the Chilean fleet had completed 95% of the entire length of the Strait of Magellan, and the vast Atlantic Ocean was already in sight. At 18:20, the outpost destroyer "Sennano", which was the first to sail out of the strait, issued a warning signal: two large warships and more than a dozen light ships were seen ahead!

At this time, in the turbulent waters of South America, in addition to the naval vessels of South American countries, the fleets of Germany, the United States, and Britain were also gathered, but whether it was the Commonwealth fleet sent in the name of protecting the colonies or the American fleet that was purported to be a friendly visit, they were all in the northern part of South America, and the only naval ships that could appear in the Strait of Magellan were Argentina and Germany.

Combat sirens sounded in the Chilean fleet!

General González did not have time to ask why his pilots had not detected the enemy in time, and now that nightfall was more than an hour away, the Chilean fleet was in the narrow channel of the strait, and it was almost impossible to quickly turn and evacuate, and they either slowly turned back and retreated at the risk of being attacked by the enemy, or rushed out of the strait to meet the enemy.

Before the Chilean Navy's seaplane carriers could drop the Curtiss reconnaissance plane, several dexterous "Junkers" flew in from outside the strait. In the afterglow of the setting sun, each Chilean warship dragged a long shadow, and even on the mast of the "Admiral Latol", the lookout could only faintly see a few black spots in the sky.

With a bit of luck, General González led the Chilean fleet out of the strait and lined up in an oblique column along the southern coast.

The Chilean planes hastily sent for reconnaissance were silent, and only enemy reconnaissance planes kept circling over the fleet.

When the last rays of light faded into the sky, the fleet in the distance finally sailed into combat range, the largest battleship seemed to fly the Argentine naval flag, but judging by its iconic bridge and extremely majestic hull, it was a 30,000-ton super dreadnought or battlecruiser.

There was no pre-battle greeting, no signal to surrender, and before the officers and men of the Chilean Navy and the American and British officers accompanying them in various capacities digested the huge doubts in their hearts, the thunderous sound of artillery resounded across the sea, and everyone was stunned by this fait accompli.

(End of chapter)