''Presidente Pinto'' was a

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of naval cruiser of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers re ...

of the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the War ...

. She was built, like her sister ship, the protected cruiser , in France supervised by Juan José Latorre. The ships were ordered in 1887 by President

José Manuel Balmaceda José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández (; July 19, 1840 – September 19, 1891) served as the 10th President of Chile from September 18, 1886, to August 29, 1891. Balmaceda was part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile. While he was ...

before the beginning of the 1891 Chilean Civil War. During the war, the two cruisers lay incomplete in French dockyards alongside the

pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...

. If these had been secured by the Balmacedists the naval supremacy of the congress would have been seriously challenged. The congressional forces formally requested that the ships be detained. None of the three ships were involved in the Civil War. ''Presidente Pinto'' was launched and sailed to Chile on 5 August 1891, before having been completed. Her artillery was supplied from an English merchant in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

while transiting to Chile. Her voyage to Chile saw some trouble, forced to return to

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

in order to pick up crew and insubordination of the crew. She arrived to

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

in September 1892, too late to participate in the Civil War. The engines had to be repaired because of the improper conditioning during the voyage to Chile. In 1902, during the

Thousand Days' War The Thousand Days' War ( es, Guerra de los Mil Días) was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party, and later – after the Conser ...

, the Colombian Government tried unsuccessfully to purchase ''Presidente Pinto''.

References

External links

* Chilean Navy website
Crucero Presidente Pinto

covered by "Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905" {{DEFAULTSORT:Presidente Pinto (1890) Presidente Errázuriz-class cruisers 1890 ships

See also

References

External links