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[Creeperopolis]

A naval arms race among Argentina, Brazil and Chile—the most powerful and wealthy countries in South America—began in the early twentieth century when the Brazilian government ordered three dreadnoughts, formidable battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world's navies.

In 1904, the Brazilian legislature allocated a significant amount of funds to improve the country's naval forces. The plan's proponent's believed that a strong navy was a requirement in becoming an international power, and was needed to combat recent naval expansions in Argentina and Chile. The revolutionary design of the 1906 British warship HMS Dreadnought induced the Brazilians to alter these plans,[B] redirecting their money into constructing three larger Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts; two would be constructed immediately. These warships, the most powerful in the world, would enter service at a time where dreadnoughts were a measure of international prestige. They therefore brought global attention to what was perceived to be a newly ascendant country.

Although these two warships were completed and delivered, the third Brazilian dreadnought faced a different fate. Preliminarily named Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian government sold the incomplete vessel to the Ottoman Empire in 1913 in the face of a slowing economy, significant political opposition after a 1910 naval revolt, and the ship being outclassed by ever-larger super-dreadnoughts.

Meanwhile, the Argentine and Chilean governments immediately moved to cancel their naval-limiting pact and ordered two dreadnoughts each: the Rivadavia class in 1910 and Almirante Latorre class in 1911, respectively. Each were larger and more powerful ships than preceding dreadnoughts ordered during the arms race, although the Argentine ships were particularly controversial, facing both political opposition and shipbuilder outrage from the multi-round bidding process used to select the design of their new ships.

The First World War marked the end of the South American naval arms race, as the countries involved found themselves effectively unable to purchase additional capital ships abroad. The conflict effectively canceled a Brazilian super-dreadnought, Riachuelo, before construction began, while the two Chilean dreadnoughts were purchased by the British; one was re-acquired by the Chileans after the war. Argentina's two dreadnoughts avoided this fate by being built in the then-neutral United States; they were commissioned in 1914 and 1915. After the conflict's end, although Brazil and Chile's post-war naval expansion plans called for acquiring additional dreadnought-type warships, no additional new units were ever constructed.