ARA San Martín was one of four Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruiser armored cruisers purchased by the Argentine Navy from Italy.

Design and description

San Martín had an overall length of 344 ft, a beam of 50 ft, and a mean draft (ship) of 23 ft. She displaced 6773 t at normal load. The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam from eight Scotch marine boilers. The engines were designed for a maximum output of 13500 ihp and a speed of 20 kn. She had a cruising range of 6000 nmi at 10 kn. Her complement consisted of 28 officers and 460 enlisted men. Her main armament consisted of four 45-caliber Armstrong Whitworth 8 in guns, in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The ten 40-caliber quick-firing (QF) 6 in guns that comprised her secondary armament were arranged in casemates amidships on the main deck. San Martín also had six QF 4.7 in and six QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns to defend herself against torpedo boats. She was also equipped with four above-water 457 mm torpedo tubes, two on each side. The ship's waterline armor belt had a maximum thickness of 5.9 in amidships and tapered to 3.1 in towards the ends of the ship. Between the main gun barbettes it covered the entire side of the ship up to the level of the upper deck. The barbettes, the conning tower, and gun turrets were also protected by 5.9-inch armor. Her deck armor ranged from 1 to 2 in thick.

Construction and career

The ship was launched on 25 May 1896 and was stricken from the Navy List on 18 December 1935.

Footnotes