HMS EAGLE

[MadMaxLab]

Builder: Armstrong Whitworth – Elswick Yard, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Yard number: 858
Laid down: 20 February 1913
Launched: 8 June 1918
Acquired: Purchased, 28 February 1918
Commissioned: 20 February 1924
Identification: Pennant number: 94
Fate: Sunk by U-73, 11 August 1942

Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Latorre-class battleship Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924. Her completion was delayed by labour troubles and the possibility that she might be repurchased by Chile for reconversion into a battleship, as well as the need for comparative trials to determine the optimum layout for aircraft carriers. The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and then later to the China Station, spending very little time in home waters other than for periodic refits.

[tynebuoy]

[E28]

Good day to you all,

Between being laid down and her launch, dates as #1 here,
EXACTLY what progress was made on the hull of the Chilean battleship Almirante Cochrane.

I have a number of questions re her construction and ultimate purchase.
1 - She was on which slip exactly. A valuable asset at the time with no return for anyone.
2 - What condition was she in at launch.
3 - Where were the funds for her construction coming from. Chile was bankrupt.
4 - Was she built at a loss. A large loss undoubtedly.

If you have the answers to these, i would be grateful for your input.
There are loads more questions i have, but this will suffice á la moment.

Her construction seems an anathema.

[Ian Buxton]

Incomplete answers.
1. Elswick had two ‘ironclad’ building slips at the time. Could have been either.
2. Don’t know, but had not been long taken over by Admiralty. I would guess a fairly bare hull to clear the berth. Work would probably have been suspended in Aug 1914.
3. Chile took out loans in UK for her warships. The original contract price was £2425190 with delivery 1.3.15.
4. She would not have been built at a loss to Armstrong. The Chilean down payment was 5%, and thereafter instalments as agreed between Armstrong and Chile and the bank (unknown to me). But the Admiralty will have reimbursed Chile for all payments made pre requisition, and thereafter would have paid Armstrong direct, probably on cost plus terms. Armstrong’s prices at the time were not loss making, with foreign orders highly profitable. Her final price according to the Navy Estimates when completed as an aircraft carrier in 1924 was £4266605.