THE CHILEAN NAVY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 April 1928, Page 9

THE CHILEAN NAVY.

NEW DESTROYERS. BUILT? IN BRITISH YARDS. The first of the six ocean-going tordestroyers ordered from Messrs John I. Thornyeroft and Co., Ltd., Southampton, for the Chilean Navy was launched last month from che builders’ Woolston works, and was named Soprano. The order for these ships wa,s_ obtained bv Messrs Thornyeroft in 'May of last rear in the face of keen international competition. The total vain© of the contract is about £1,750,(XX). The vessels arg 300 ft. in length, by 29ft. beam, with a maximum draught of 12ft. -in and a displacement, fully loaded, of 1.430 tons. The contract .speed is 35 knots. Compound turbines drive twin screws through Parsons single-reduc-tion gearing. There ane geared cruising turbines for low speeds. Steam is supplied bv three Thornyeroft watertube boilers with .seamless cylindrical lower barrels.

Tin? main armament consists of three .|.7in. click-firing guns, and six 21 in. torpedo" tubes in two groups of three. Thee is also a. powerful anti-submarine armament. The plating of the. vessels is galvanised throughout, and the heavyscantlings in the. huM reduce the stresses to even less than those allowed by British Admiralty practice. Messrs Thornyeroft built H.M.S. Teaxor, which has the highest officially recorded speed of any destroyer, namely 40.22 knots. They- are themselves responsible for the design of the six Chilean destroyers.