CHILEAN Aircraft carrier

What if Chile insisted that HMS Eagle be returned after she was completed in 1924?
Chile would be told to get back in her box.

Britain did as Chile requested in 1918 and bought HMS Eagle and was now bound by article 18 of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Chile could insist all they liked but it would have the same force as insisting the sky is pink.
 
In 1924 the state of carrier aviation was primitive and lot of experimentation was needed to make it useful, experimentation that took money. I very much doubt Chile has the funds to spend (squander) on this at the expense of other perceived military needs. On top of that, exactly what purpose does having an aircraft carrier serve for Chile.
 
What if Chile insisted that HMS Eagle be returned after she was completed in 1924?
You mean instead of telling Britain to buy it in 1918 or do you mean pulling an about-face in 1924? If it's the latter its simply not going to fly as outlined above.

If it's the former then it's quite possible. Additionally, the "New Navy" lobby in Chile wanted to de-emphasize battleships in favour of submarines and aircraft (and they were instrumental in scrapping the deal to acquire two battlecruisers from the UK). So Almirante Cochrane will probably be more favourable in this form than if it had been kept as a battleship. It and Almirante Latorre would make a rather formidable battle grouping for neutrality patrols.
 
Did the Chileans pay for her?
No. The Chileans had an economic decline starting in 1913 when the first industrial use of the haber process broke the Chilean monopoly on World nitrate.

Nitrate prices declined and investor trust in the Chilean economy (and therefore loans) disappeared.

They didn't pay for the ships they ordered therefore they didn't get it.
 
No. The Chileans had an economic decline starting in 1913 when the first industrial use of the haber process broke the Chilean monopoly on World nitrate.

Nitrate prices declined and investor trust in the Chilean economy (and therefore loans) disappeared.

They didn't pay for the ships they ordered therefore they didn't get it.
I thought that the British purchased the Chilean battleships under construction in the UK at the start of WWI and offered to sell them back at a decent discount at the end of the war but since Chile wanted the Admirante Cochrane reconverted back to a battleship which would have required a lot of work without a major increase in how much they would pay so the RN kept her
 

MatthewB

Banned
I thought that the British purchased the Chilean battleships under construction in the UK at the start of WWI and offered to sell them back at a decent discount at the end of the war but since Chile wanted the Admirante Cochrane reconverted back to a battleship which would have required a lot of work without a major increase in how much they would pay so the RN kept her
Chile with an aircraft carrier would be interesting. Probably the only carrier regularly operating in the South Pacific. I imagine the US won’t be pleased, nor Japan, to share the Pacific with another CV-enabled navy.

What aircraft would she operate? It would be funny if Chile bought Japanese aircraft.
 
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