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[SIZE=3]Overview[/SIZE]

Capitan Prat-class Metalclad
- CNAS Capitan Prat (ZRS-1) (Retired 1940)

Aquiles-class Metalclad Training Airship
- CNAS Aquiles (ZRS-2)

Estrella Solitaria-class Metalclad Airship Scout
- CNAS Estrella Solitaria (ZRS-3)

Comodoro Prien-class Metalclad Airship Scout
- CNAS Comodoro Prien (ZRS-4)

Scale of drawings is 1 pixel = .871 feet

The Armada de Chile Arma Aérea - Fleet Air Arm - currently has a prominent place in the Armada's planning, as a Chilean "brownshoe" - Almirante Moore - is currently Naval C-in-C. Among Moore's other programs is an interest in lighter-than-air operations.

Chile draws their naval traditions from four foreign navies: the British, of course, followed by the US, Nordish, and Atlantean navies. The final three powers are currently operators of their own lighter-than-air fleets, and that has given some substantial credence to the idea in the eyes of the Armada. Rumors and intelligence from the 1936 NATO exercises also indicated the usefulness of airships.

With those precedents, the Chilean LTA proponents have gotten the funding for six new antisubmarine blimps of the SSC class, and one rigid airship named CNAS Capitan Prat. The design is being built in Atlantis by the same manufacturer as the SSC class; the designers offered the AdCAA a "regular" airship, and a more unorthodox metalclad airship, which the AdCAA decided was superior.

The CNAS Capitan Prat was rebuilt in mid-1940 to incorporate more advanced rudders, forward control planes, and a lighter, more streamlined control car. As Navy policy technically attaches the ship's name solely to the control car (as opposed to the envelope), the Capitan Prat was officially decommissioned; the rebuilt ship was renamed the Comodoro Prien (see below).


Image originally by CanisD and modified (colored) by Brockpaine.

Capitan Prat-class Metalclad Airship

General Characteristics:
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 667 feet
Beam: 92 feet
Height:: 128 feet
Gas Capacity: 3,000,000 cubic feet
Powerplant: 4 × 1,250 hp Accrisius radial engines
Crew: 12 officers, 41 men
Airplanes: 4 ZTS scout fighters (1937-1939)
Equipment: 1 YQAM DRADIS (radar) set

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 78 mph (67 knots)
Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 168 hours at 50 knots (8,400 nm)

Ships in Class:
- CNAS Capitan Prat (ZRS-01) - 1937

In 1938, due to the successful integration of the metalclad airship Capitan Prat into the Armada, the Navy's leadership placed another order for two more metalclad rigid airships. The first would be smaller than Capitan Prat, dispensing with the small aircraft complement in order to add training facilities, a pair of cupolas with retractable DRADIS arrays, and "flagship facilities" sufficient for the ship to serve as the control ship for air and sea units. The Aquiles would serve as the training vessel for the Armada de Chile's airship flotilla until 1953. Even though the Aquiles was not intended as an aircraft mothership, she was built with the capacity to carry three ZTS fighters. In 1941, she was sold to France.


Image originally by CanisD and modified by Brockpaine.

Aquiles-class Metalclad Airship, Training

General Characteristics:
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 624.5 feet
Diameter: 85 feet
Gas Capacity: 2,535,975 cubic feet
Powerplant: 4 × 1,250 hp Accrisius radial engines
Crew: 11 officers, 38 men
Airplanes: 3 ZTS aircraft
Equipment: 1 YQAM DRADIS (radar) set, squadron flagship facilities

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 80 mph (69.5 knots)
Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 168 hours at 50 knots (8,400 nm)

Ships in Class:
- CNAS Aquiles - ZRS(T)-02

Image originally by CanisD and modified by Brockpaine.

La Estrella Solitaria-class Metalclad Airship, Carrier
In early 1938, the Chilean airship proponents managed to wring funding for a third airship out of Congress. Unlike the previous two vessels, Capitan Prat and Aquiles, the third metalclad would be a true colossus of the skies, able to operate ten aircraft. She would be named La Estrella Solitaria, "The Lone Star", and would accompany the Carrier Force from her commissioning in 1939 well into the 1950s.

General Characteristics:
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 992 feet
Diameter: 140 feet
Gas Capacity: 9,440,480 cubic feet
Powerplant: 6 × 1,800 hp Roth R-1600 / Austral Incitatus radial engines
Aircraft: 10 scout planes
Crew: 18 officers, 79 men
Equipment: 1 YQAM DRADIS (radar) set, squadron flagship facilities

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 80 mph (69.5 knots)
Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 180 hours at 50 knots (9,000 nm)

Ships in Class:
- CNAS La Estrella Solitaria - ZRS-03

Image originally by CanisD and modified (colored) by Brockpaine.

Comodoro Prien-class Metalclad Airship

General Characteristics:
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 667 feet
Beam: 92 feet
Height:: 128 feet
Gas Capacity: 3,000,000 cubic feet
Powerplant: 4 × 1,800 hp Austral Incitatus radial engines
Crew: 12 officers, 41 men
Airplanes: 4 ZF2E scouts or ZFN fighters (1940+)
Equipment: 1x YQAM DRADIS (radar) set, radio direction-finding gear, etc

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 79 mph (68.6 knots)
Economic Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 168 hours at 50 knots (8,400 nm)

Ships in Class:
- CNAS Comodoro Prien (ZRS-04) - 1940

La Serena-class Metalclad Airship
The La Serena class metalclads were some of the smallest rigid airships ever put into service. The three airships were designed to serve as wide-area antisubmarine escorts for Chilean surface groups. The airships were produced in France (which acquired three of its own) and equipped with a variety of equipment for detecting submarines, even when submerged.

General Characteristics:
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 130 meters (426.2 feet)
Beam: 25 meters (82 feet)
Height:: 29.3 meters (96 feet)
Gas Capacity: 1,713,000 cubic feet
Powerplant: 4 × Austral Streiff 900 hp (671 kW) 14-cylinder radial engines; replaced with Austral Malacara turboprops in 1948.
Crew: 3 officers, 24 men
Equipment: 1x Type 503 DRADIS (radar) set, radio direction-finding gear, magnetic anomaly detector, Mark I winched sonar, sonobuoys.
Armament: Depth Charges, 8x Mark 24 "Fido" acoustic homing torpedoes (post 1948).

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 79 mph (68.6 knots)
Economic Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 168 hours at 50 knots (8,400 nm)

Ships in Class:
- CNAS La Serena (ZRS-05) - 1942
- CNAS Talca (ZRS-06) - 1942
- CNAS Temuco (ZRS-07) - 1943

1948 Refit
In 1948, all three airships were refitted with new Austral Malacara turboprop engines, updated electronics, and Mark 24 acoustic homing torpedoes.