text: argentine – chilean naval arms race in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries , the south american nations of argentina and chile engaged in an expensive naval arms race to ensure the other would not gain supremacy in the southern cone . although the argentine and chilean navies possessed insignificant naval forces in the 1860s , with zero and five warships , respectively , argentina 's concern over a strong brazilian navy and the chilean war against spain caused them to add capable warships to their fleets in the 1870s . during this time , diplomatic relations between argentina and chile soured due to conflicting boundary claims , particularly in patagonia . by the beginning of the 1880s , after the war of the pacific , the chilean government possessed possibly the strongest navy in the americas . they planned to add to it with an 1887 appropriation for one battleship , two protected cruisers , and two torpedo gunboats . argentina responded a year later with an order for two battleships of its own . the naval arms race unfolded over the next several years , with each country buying and ordering vessels that were slightly better than the previous ship , but the argentines eventually pulled ahead with the acquisition of multiple garibaldi - class cruisers . the race ended in 1902 with the british - arbitrated pacts of may , which contained a binding naval - limiting agreement . both governments sold or canceled the ships they had ordered , and three major warships were mostly disarmed to balance the fleets . the pacts proved to be the answer to the argentine and chilean disputes , as the countries enjoyed a period of warm relations . this did not last , though , as the brazilian government 's attempt to rebuild its own naval forces sparked another naval arms race , involving all three countries ' orders for revolutionary new " dreadnoughts " , powerful battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world 's navies . background conflicting argentine and chilean claims to patagonia , the southernmost region in south america , had been causing tension between the two countries since the 1840s . both countries were incapable of enforcing these claims with a seaborne force , though : in 1860 , the chileans had only five small vessels , while the argentine navy had no seagoing ships . these attitudes quickly changed when the circumstances warranted ; when chile joined peru against spain in the chincha islands war , the spaniards blockaded and bombarded valparaíso , leading the chilean government to strengthen the navy . the argentine government , under president domingo sarmiento , decided to build a navy in the 1870s to counter brazilian naval acquisitions . two large monitors , los andes and el plata , were ordered from laird brothers , a british company , along with two gunboats . they were delivered in 1874 and 1875 . the patagonian tensions heightened in 1872 and 1878 , when chilean warships seized merchant ships which had been licensed to operate in the disputed area by the argentine government . an argentine warship did the same to a chilean - licensed american ship in 1877 . this action nearly led to war in november 1878 , when the argentines dispatched a squadron of warships to the santa cruz river . the chilean navy responded in kind , and war was only avoided by a hastily signed treaty . both countries were incapable of enforcing these claims with a seaborne force in the next few years , as the argentines were occupied with internal military operations against the indigenous population ( 1870 – 84 ) , and the chileans involved in the war of the pacific ( guerra del pacífico , 1879 – 83 ) against bolivia and peru . still , several warships were ordered by both nations : the argentines commissioned a central battery ironclad , almirante brown , and a protected cruiser , patagonia , in 1880 and 1885 , respectively . for their part , the chileans ordered a protected cruiser , esmeralda , to bolster its fleet , which was centered on two central battery ironclads , almirante cochrane and blanco encalada . with these ships , the chilean navy emerged from the war of the pacific as the preeminent navy in the americas , surpassing even the navy of the united states , which had fallen into steep decline after the american civil war . the chilean government utilized this advantage when it deployed esmeralda to panama in 1885 to block the u.s. from attempting to annex the region . arms race the chilean government moved first to begin the naval arms race when it ordered a modern ironclad battleship , capitán prat , two protected cruisers , and two torpedo boats from france and the united kingdom . bought with a £ 3 , 129 , 500 appropriation in the 1887 budget , the ships would have upset the balance of naval power in latin america — while the argentines had more vessels , the chileans had larger warships with far more experienced crewmen . this purchase was made worse , from the argentine perspective , by a large order for rifles , field guns , sabers , and carbines , enough to arm an 80 , 000 - strong army . the argentine government responded with two battleships — independencia and libertad , though they were individually smaller than their chilean counterpart — and two protected cruisers , one purchased on the stocks in 1890 ( veinticinco de mayo ) and a new - build of the same design in 1891 ( de julio ) . the purchases were funded largely through export - related windfall , chile through nitrates and argentina through grain and cattle . the chilean civil war ( 1891 ) , rather than calming the naval ambitions of chile , escalated them . in that conflict , the chilean navy played a significant role on the congressional side against the president and the army . the resulting victory of the congressional side and subsequent presidency of admiral jorge montt led to a large increase in prestige and consequent funding for the navy . argentine naval units assisted failed revolts in argentina , but the continuing acrimony with and naval acquisitions of chile meant this had little effect . the chilean government purchased a protected cruiser , blanco encalada , on the stocks in 1892 , while the argentines purchased one , buenos aires , being built for the british in late 1893 . the chileans sold their oldest protected cruiser , esmeralda , in late 1894 to finance the order of an armored cruiser . this materialized in may 1895 with a new esmeralda , along with four torpedo boats ; a brazilian protected cruiser , , was purchased while under construction in august 1895 . the argentines purchased an italian armored cruiser , garibaldi , on the stocks on 14 july 1895 . in april 1896 , chile ordered another armored cruiser , o 'higgins , and six torpedo boats . naval historian robert scheina states that argentina replied in the same month with san martín , a near - sister ship to garibaldi which was under construction in italy . however , he notes that the small time lapse between the orders makes it difficult or impossible to know if this , the opposite , or either are true . as historian jonathan grant writes , the argentines may have moved first to secure a definite , if momentarily tenuous , advantage over the chilean navy . in may 1898 , the chilean government found that the argentines were planning on acquiring one , then two , garibaldi - class cruisers . with tensions extremely high and war seemingly imminent , the two countries agreed to submit their boundary disputes to the british , which led to the cordillera of the andes boundary case 1902 ( argentina , chile ) . they also signed pacts which led to the resolution of the puna de atacama dispute . as the former arbitration took much time , the naval arms race , though it slacked during the time of eased tension which came with the agreements , continued . the argentines did acquire the two additional armored cruisers , which were named pueyrredón and general belgrano , that were more powerful than the previous two . to counter them , the chilean government ordered two new battleships , constitución and libertad , using its gold reserve to pay for them . these battleships ' fast speed would make them suitable for opposing the new argentine armored cruisers . the chileans also purchased the protected cruiser chacabuco , which had been built on speculation , on the stocks in late 1901 . the argentines responded in may 1901 with an inquiry , possibly a full order , to ansaldo for a new 15 , 000 - long - ton ( 15 , 000 t ) battleship design . this would mount a 305 mm ( 12 in ) main battery and be capable of steaming at 20 knots ( 23 mph ; 37 km / h ) . the increased tensions and near state of war between argentina and chile caused the british to intervene , lest their economic interests in the region , which included the export of british goods and the import of latin american raw materials , be disrupted . talks were held in the chilean capital , santiago , between the british ambassador to chile , the argentine ambassador to chile , and the chilean foreign minister and president germán . this led to the three pacts of may on 28 may 1902 , which ended the dispute . the third limited the naval armaments of both countries . argentina and chile were barred from acquiring any further warships for five years , unless they gave the other eighteen months of advance notice . the warships under construction were sold to the united kingdom , with chile 's battleships becoming the swiftsure class , and japan , with argentina 's armored cruisers becoming the kasuga class . the two planned argentine battleships were never ordered , and garibaldi and pueyrredón , along with chile 's capitán prat , were disarmed with the exception of their main batteries , as the argentine navy had no crane capable of removing the armored cruiser 's gun turrets . aftermath the argentine – chilean naval arms race was extremely expensive for both countries . the argentine government was able to purchase £ 4 , 534 , 800 worth of ships between 1890 and 1898 with large foreign loans , which were given to them despite the country 's role in the baring crisis of 1890 . the government 's total foreign debt reached 421 million gold pesos by 1896 . as for chile , it was forced to take out a £ 2 million pound loan in order to purchase krupp weaponry , and this combined with its other loans led the banking industry to suspend loans to chile until the diplomatic crisis with argentina was solved . both the argentine president julio argentino roca and american ambassador to argentina william paine lord ascribed the ending of the arms race to the diminished credit of argentina and chile . by all measures , the pacts of may were an unmitigated success . both argentina and chile enjoyed a period of lessened tensions , leaving the near state of war they were in , and the pacts ended their expensive naval buildups . however , the third major country in south america , brazil , brought this to a crashing halt in 1904 , when its congress passed a large naval construction plan . this culminated in 1907 with a brazilian order for three " dreadnoughts " , a new form of warship whose advanced armament and propulsion capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world 's navies . two would be laid down immediately , with a third to follow . the argentine and chilean governments quickly moved to cancel the remaining months of the naval - limiting pacts of may , and both eventually responded with orders for their own dreadnoughts . endnotes