ARA ''Libertad'' was a

coastal defense ship Coastal defence ships (sometimes called coastal battleships or coast defence ships) were warships built for the purpose of coastal defence, mostly during the period from 1860 to 1920. They were small, often cruiser-sized warships that sacrifi ...

that served in the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

between 1892 and 1947, and with the

Argentine Coast Guard The Argentine Naval Prefecture ( or PNA) is a service of Argentina's Security Ministry charged with protecting the country's rivers and maritime territory. It therefore fulfills the functions of other countries' coast guards, and furthermore acts ...

as a pilot station ship from 1947 to 1968. It was the seventh Argentine naval ship with this name.

Design

''Libertad'' was a

designed mainly for coastal and riverine use, being classified by the Argentine Navy as "Riverine Battleship" (Spanish: ''Acorazado de Río''); in the 1902 edition of

Jane's Fighting Ships ''Janes Fighting Ships'' is an annual reference book of each country's warship, navy and coast guard, along with their weapons and aircraft. Included are ship names, construction data, size, speed, range, complement, engineering, armament, a ...

it was listed as "Coast Service Battleship". The ship was

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

,''The Engineer'' 18 November 1892, p. 427. with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was .Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 402. It had a steel hull subdivided by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, with a ram at its bow.''The Engineer'' 18 November 1892, p. 428. A thick armoured belt of

compound armour Compound armour was a type of armour used on warships in the 1880s, developed in response to the emergence of armor-piercing shells and the continual need for reliable protection with the increasing size in naval ordnance. Compound armour was a n ...

, backed by of teak ran over two-thirds of the ship's length. The belt was deep, with its upper edge just above the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

. Armoured transverse bulkheads were at the fore and aft end of the belt, with the forward bulkhead being thick and the aft bulkhead . An armoured deck ran the length of the ship, and was thick over the belt and thick at the ends of the ship. The ship's

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

was protected by of armour, while the main guns were protected by thick

barbettes Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...

topped by a armoured hood. thick gunshields were fitted to the ship's secondary armament. The ship was propelled by two four-cylinder vertical compound steam engines, rated at , fed by steam from four cylindrical boilers. This gave a speed of . The ship had a single mast and funnel. The mast differed slightly from the one in its sister ''Independencia''. As designed, its main battery had two 240mm Krupp guns (one at the bow and the other at the stern) on Vavasseur mountings protected with armoured shields, and two quick-firing 120mm Elswick guns on each side. The secondary battery had four 47 mm quick-firing Nordenfelt/Hotchkiss guns, and two 25mm Nordenfelt guns.

History

In July 1889, the Argentine Naval Commission in London signed a contract with the shipyard

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

ordering the construction of "two twin-shaft, ram-equipped battleships for riverine service" (Spanish: ''dos acorazados de espolón de doble hélice para servicio de ríos'') at a unit cost of £ 176.000; this transaction was approved in September of that year by the Ministry. The first ship, then known as ''Nueve de Julio'' and later renamed ''Libertad'' when a new cruiser was assigned that name, started construction in 1890 and was launched in 1892; its construction was completed that year. After finalizing trials, in November 1892 the ship was formally accepted by the Argentine Navy, under command of Captain Atilio Barilari. It departed

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 20 December 1892 and arrived at

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

on 25 January 1893. Brassey1899x4

In mid-1894 the ship participated in the naval exercises as part of the 1st Division; later that year it joined its sister ship, ''Independencia'', and the ironclad ''Almirante Brown''. In 1905 it was assigned to the hydrographic survey of the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

(English: ''River Plate''); after that it was reassigned to the Training Division. In 1914, ''Libertad'' was assigned to train the crews for the new dreadnought battleships being built in the United States ( ''Rivadavia'' and ''Moreno''). In 1915 the ship was reclassified as a "coast guard ship". In 1918–19 ''Libertad'' was maintained in reserve, and by 1922–23 was assigned as training ship. In 1924-25 the ship was again in reserve, being upgraded to use oil fuel rather than coal. In 1927 ''Libertad'' was reclassified as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

, and was assigned to the Gunboat Division in 1930. In December 1946 ''Libertad'' was discharged from the Argentine Navy (decree 22.556) and in 1947 transferred to the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

, to be used as station ship for

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

in the River Plate. In 1968 the ship was discharged from the Argentine Coast Guard.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Battleship "Libertad" - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima - Acorazado de Rio Libertad)
(''accessed 2015-12-05'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Libertad Coastal defense ships of the Argentine Navy 1892 ships Ships built on the River Mersey Coastal defence ships