Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1895)

Cruiser Esmeralda
History
Chile
Name:	Esmeralda
Namesake:	Esmeralda (1791)
Ordered:	15 May 1895
Builder:	Armstrong Mitchell and Co. Ltd, Elswick
Laid down:	4 July 1895
Launched:	14 April 1896
Commissioned:	4 September 1896
Decommissioned:	1930
Fate:	Scrapped 1930
General characteristics
Type:	Armoured cruiser
Displacement:	7,032 long tons (7,145 t)
Length:	436 ft (132.89 m) pp 468 ft 3 in (142.72 m) oa
Beam:	52 ft 5 in (15.98 m)
Draft:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Installed power:	16,000 ihp (12,000 kW) (natural draft) 18,000 ihp (13,000 kW) (forced draft)
Propulsion:	Two vertical triple expansion steam engines 6 cylindrical boilers 2 shafts
Speed:	22.25 kn (25.60 mph; 41.21 km/h) (natural draft) 23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Complement:	513
Armament:	2 × 8 in (203 mm)/40-calibre guns (2×1) 16 × 6 in (152 mm)/40-calibre guns 8 × 12-pounder guns 10 × 6-pounder guns 4 × machine-guns 3 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Harvey steel Belt: 6 in (152 mm) Deck:1 1⁄2–2 in (38–51 mm) Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm) Gunshields:4 1⁄2 in (110 mm) Conning tower: 8 in (203 mm)

Esmeralda was developed as a custom design by naval architect Philip Watts for the Chilean Navy.

On 18 December 1907, the ship brought troops from Valparaíso to Iquique to repress thousands of miners from different nitrate mines in Chile's north who were appealing for government intervention to improve their living and working conditions. This later developed into the Santa María School massacre.

Esmeralda served in the Chilean Navy for approximately thirty years, until 1930.