Almirante Latorre, named after
Juan José Latorre, was a
super-dreadnought battleship built for the
Chilean Navy (
Armada de Chile). She was the first of a
planned two-ship class that would respond to
earlier warship purchases by other South American countries. Construction began at
Elswick,
Newcastle upon Tyne soon after the ship was ordered in November 1911, and was approaching completion when she was bought by the United Kingdom's
Royal Navy for use in the
First World War.
Commissioned in September 1915, she served in the
Grand Fleet as
HMS Canada for the duration of the war and saw action during the
Battle of Jutland.
Chile repurchased
Canada in 1920. She took back her original name of
Almirante Latorre, and served as the Chilean flagship and frequently as presidential transport. She underwent a thorough modernization in the United Kingdom in 1929–1931. In September 1931, crewmen aboard
Almirante Latorre instigated
a mutiny, which the majority of the Chilean fleet quickly joined. After divisions developed between the mutineers, the rebellion fell apart and the ships returned to government control.
Almirante Latorre was placed in reserve for a time in the 1930s because of the
Great Depression, but she was in good enough condition to receive interest from the United States after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. The Chilean government declined the overture and the ship spent most of the Second World War on patrol for Chile. She was
scrapped in Japan beginning in 1959.