On December 7, 1930, the military music of Valparaiso military port in Chile was noisy, and there were a wave of salutes. Thousands of Chilean people came to the dock to watch the Chilean naval flagship Admiral Lator set sail. It is the only battleship currently in service in the Chilean Navy. It was built by the British Armstrong Shipyard. It was forcibly collected by the British Navy during the war, but it was not completed until the end of the war, so it was spared from the fate of lying on the seabed like the "Argincote". After the signing of the London Armistice Treaty, the warship was able to be continued and transferred to the Chilean Navy, becoming the only super-dreadnought ship of the navy in South American countries.

The South American war initiated by Argentina and Paraguay has been fighting for more than a month. Backed by the strong military aid of European allies, the Ababa coalition forces are in a state of power on the battlefield: the Paraguay army won consecutive battles and drove the Bolivians out of the Chaco area; the Argentine army attacked with two north and south sides, and the main force of the middle line rushed to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Chile's military strength ranks among the forefront of South American countries, but its narrow and long territory is very unfavorable to defense. In addition, the Argentine army made careful preparations and deployments, and then fought with the rage of the whole country. By mid-November, it had broken through the border line of the Chilean army and arrived at the city of Santiago, and set up heavy artillery bombardment, turning the bustling capital of Chile into a burning ruin.

In the South American Pacific War half a century ago, Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia with one against two, and seized the valuable production areas of saltpeter and bird droppings, thus establishing the status of South American power. Faced with Argentina, which was dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry, and had a vast territory but had always been poor and weak, how could the brave and martial Chileans be willing to fail? With the support of the United States and Britain, the Chilean government issued two mobilization orders in succession, expanding the size of the army to more than 300,000, and actively dispatching troops to launch a ground counterattack on the Argentine army besieging Santiago. The main forces of both sides fought on the banks of the Mapocho River. The Argentines were determined to win, and the Chileans were not to lose. Everyone wanted to win this battle, which made the tragic situation no less than several famous battles in 1914.

In 1930, Argentina had a population of 11 million, nearly three times that of Chile. Weapons and ammunition were continuously transported from the other side of the ocean, and for consumption, the Chileans would definitely suffer. Since the outbreak of the war, due to the German fleet stationed in Buenos Aires, the Chilean Navy has been taking a defensive position and did not dare to go to Argentina's waters to carry out combat operations. To talk about the strength of the Argentina and the Chilean Navy, before the defection of the Moreno, the Argentina Navy, which had two dreadnos, was a little stronger than Chile, which had a super dreadno, but after the defection of the Moreno, the Chilean Navy was a little stronger than Argentina.

Admiral Lator carried the deep hopes of Chilean military and civilians to sail to the battlefield, and the "culprit" that ignited the South American war. The dreadno, "Moreno", originally belonged to the Argentine Navy, seemed to be a sick tiger in a zoo, lying motionlessly on the berth. When the mutiny occurred five months ago, there were 1,093 officers and soldiers on the ship. Except for 7 people who were killed for resisting the mutiny by force, the rest of the people arrived in Chile with the ship. However, many of them just succumbed to the situation at that time, rather than sincerely supporting former President Irigoyan.

During the period when the fierce diplomatic conflict between Geneta and Chile, these soldiers who were listed on the traitors by the Argentine government had nowhere to go. Most of them took U.S. dollars of unknown origin and watched the situation anxiously. After Chile and Argentina officially entered a state of war, only more than 300 people were willing to continue to stay in the port of Valparaiso. These people alone were not enough to maintain the operation of the "Moreno". Although Chilean naval personnel and American "volunteers" could supplement the warship vacancies, it would still take a long time to be fully familiar with its operation.

Watching the number one imaginary enemy who had been away from the harbor for many years, Argentine officers aboard the Moreno gathered on the stern deck and whispered.

"Can the Chilean fleet win this time?"

"If the opponent is the Argentine fleet led by General Palau, the Chileans should have a great chance of winning! You also know that the guy only has the ability to flatter, and there are not many staff officers under his command, but if the rumors are true, the Argentine fleet is placed under the command of the German general named Paul Bainke, and the result is hard to say."

"If the German fleet participated in the war, the Chilean fleet would probably have few warships back to the port."

"I don't think the German fleet will participate in the war. If they get involved, the United States will have an excuse to join the war. The United States can gather all its navy in the American waters, but the Germans cannot send more than half of the warships to South America. In that case, the British navy, who is determined to wait for the opportunity to revenge, will stab them hard in the back."

"In our current situation, we can only pray for the victory of the Chilean Navy. In that case, Uribru's regime may be overthrown and we will have the opportunity to return to Argentina, otherwise..."

At this point, the speaker sighed, and the rest of the officers remained silent.

Four days later, Chile's flagship Admiral Lator led the accompanying ship to the southern waters of Chile and met with the warning fleet waiting there. The entire fleet has 1 super-dreadnought, 3 ironclad ships, 1 armored cruiser, 1 protective cruiser, 12 destroyers, 19 torpedo boats, 14 minecraft ships, and 1 seaplane mothership. The lineup seems strong, but by the standards of the Jutland Naval Battle, less than half of the fleet can compete for the battle.

General Gonzalez, who was in command of the "Admiral Latour", is a veteran of the Chilean Navy. He studied at the famous Royal Navy Academy in Dartmouth. Later, he served in the British Navy for six years as a communication staff member. He had worked with Jelico, who served as the commander of the British Fleet in the early days of the war, and thus maintained a good relationship with the British side. On his bridge, General Levis Berry from the British Navy led a small group of capable British officials to advise the Chilean fleet. In addition, several US officials accompanied him as military observers, making the tower bridge relatively spacious and crowded.

Once the Chilean fleet enters the Atlantic Ocean where most of Argentina's territorial waters are located from the Pacific Ocean, which is always active, its weak strength advantage will be offset by geographical factors. Therefore, the British staff team gave General Gonzalez the advice that he would run away after fighting, and use the main fleet to shell out port cities and military facilities along the coast of Argentina, and use the faster ships and submarines to carry out a battle. Gonzalez agreed with this suggestion, and there were two routes in front of him: one was to pass through the narrow Strait of Magellan, and the other was to bypass Cape Horn at the southern end of the Americas.

The Strait of Magellan is a natural channel connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The two sides have steep walls, dense capes and islands, and the strokes are mostly foggy, the tide is high and the current is fast, so it is not easy to pass through. However, before the Panama Canal was opened, it was an important channel for ships to travel between the two oceans, and most of the voyages were located in Chile. Chile's pilot ships were very familiar with the sea conditions here. If you orbit the waters south of Cape Horn, not only will the voyage be long, but the sea area is also famous for its high winds and high waves, and the fleet will inevitably go around. It was heard that the Chilean army broke through the important front of the Argentine army on the Santiago front line, General Gonzalez decided to make a quick decision and led the fleet to pass quickly from the Strait of Magellan. After completing the combat mission, it would still return from the Strait. If the Argentine fleet chased him, it would lead it to the Strait of Magellan to annihilate.

The Strait of Magellan is more than 500 kilometers long. When the Chilean fleet traveled through this, it was midsummer in South America. The scorching sun reflected every ship flying Chilean flag clearly, which also provided convenience for Chilean aircraft's early warning and reconnaissance. Knowing that the eastern end of the strait located in Argentina was calm and sound, General Gonzalez urged the fleet to speed up the speed, while deploying the battle matters after the fleet passed through the strait. Three old ironclad ships and several oldest destroyers carried out shelling the port of Riogajegos in southern Argentina. The flagship Admiral Lator led the better combat ships to the Bay of San Mathias to cover the armored cruiser "Esmeralda" and the protective cruiser "Zenteno" entered the central and southern Atlantic to launch a battle, and lured the Argentine main fleet to go south.

On the evening of December 14, 1930, the Chilean fleet completed 95% of the entire journey of the Strait of Magellan, and the vast Atlantic Ocean was already far away. At 18:20, the outpost destroyer "Senano" that took the lead in leaving the strait issued an alarm signal: Two large warships and dozens of light ships were seen ahead!

At this time, the turbulent waters in South America, in addition to the naval ships of South American countries, they also gathered fleets of Germany, the United States, Britain and other countries. However, whether it was the Commonwealth fleet sent in the name of protecting colonies or the American fleet that claimed to be friendly visits, they were all in the northern part of South America. The only naval ships of Argentina and Germany might appear in the Strait of Magellan.

The battle alarm sounded through the Chilean fleet!

General Gonzalez had no time to ask his pilot why he did not discover the enemy situation in time. It was more than an hour before nightfall. The Chilean fleet was in the narrow channel, and it was almost impossible to quickly turn and evacuate. They either risked the enemy's attack and slowly turned around and retreated, or rushed out of the channel to form an array to meet the enemy.

Before the Chilean Navy's seaplane mothership dropped the Curtis reconnaissance plane, several smart "Junkes" had flew out of the strait. Under the afterglow of the sunset, each Chilean warship dragged a long shadow, and even on the mast of the "Admiral Lator", the watchman could only vaguely see several black dots in the horizon.

With a hint of luck, General Gonzalez led the Chilean fleet to quickly sail out of the strait and lined up a column along the southern coast.

The Chilean planes sent to reconnaissance were speechless, and only the enemy's reconnaissance planes kept hovering over the fleet.

When the last ray of light disappeared into the horizon, the fleet in the distance finally entered the combat range. The largest warship seemed to be flying the Argentine naval battle flag, but judging from its iconic bridge and extremely majestic hull, it was a 30,000-ton super-dreadnought or battle cruiser.
Chapter completed!