ARA Rivadavia

ARA Rivadavia
History
Argentina
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
General characteristics
Class and type:	Rivadavia-class battleship
Displacement:	27,500 long tons (27,900 t) standard, 30,100 long tons (30,600 t) full load
Length:	594 ft 9 in (181.28 m) oa, 585 ft (178 m) pp
Beam:	98 ft 4.5 in (29.985 m)
Draft:	27 ft 8.5 in (8.446 m)
Propulsion:	3-shaft, Curtis geared turbines, 18 Babcock & Wilcox boilers; 40,000 shp (29,828 kW)
Speed:	22.5 knots (25.9 mph; 41.7 km/h)
Range:	7,000 nautical miles (8,100 mi; 13,000 km) at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) 11,000 nautical miles (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) at 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h)
Armament:	12 × 12 inch (305 mm)/50 guns 12 × 6 inch (152 mm)/50 guns 16 × 4 inch (102 mm) guns 2 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 12–10 inches (300–250 mm) Turrets: 12 inches (305 mm) Casemates: 91/3–61/5 inches (238–159 mm) Conning tower: 12 inches (300 mm)

ARA Rivadavia (Spanish: [riβaˈðaβja]) was an Argentine battleship built during the South American dreadnought race. Named after the first Argentine president, Bernardino Rivadavia, 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. from the naval register in 1957, Rivadavia was sold later that year and broken up for scrap starting in 1959.

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

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Wikipedia