As a response to Argentinian naval expansion, the Chilean government ordered two pre-dreadnought battleships from British yards, the Libertad and Constitucion. In the end, these were bought by the British government and became HMS Swiftsure and HMS Triumph, as the naval arms race between Chile and Argentina was suspended after British mediation. If they had been delivered, they would have made a powerful force for the Chileans to deploy, tipping the scales firmly toward regional naval superiority. I have two of the models from a bundle I acquired second hand, so will be assembling them and painting them up for a 'What If?' addition to the Chilean fleet.
Good plan. They could also make it into a RJW what if, as the RN was worried they’d be bought up by either side.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point indeed!
ReplyDeleteBack in the early 80s I had a RJW board game that had random events that allowed either Russia or Japan or neither to acquire these plus the Garibaldis Japan actually got plus a few other spare ships at the time.
DeleteSounds great! It's an option in White Bear, Red Sun too.
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