WesWorld

Summary
These ships were designed as a compromise vessel between a heavy destroyer and a small light cruiser. As the ships were particularly large for a destroyer, the Armada de Chile numbered them in the cruiser series as "CLDs" or "Dual-Purpose Light Cruisers" and sailors often referred to them "frigates", noting that they were usually commanded by a capitan de fregate. More often, the ships were called "destroyer leaders" by the international press, which had expected them to serve in such a role.

In practice, the Armada de Chile regarded the frigates as neither destroyers nor cruisers, but as their own unique type of ship.

Index of Classes and Vessels
Battle-class Destroyer Leaders
- Angamos (CLD-16): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1940, completed August 1941.
- Iquique (CLD-17): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1940, completed November 1941.
- Punta Gruesa (CLD-18): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1941, completed August 1942.
- Casma (CLD-19): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1941, completed November 1942.
- Papudo (CLD-20): Laid down at Talcahuano January 1942, completed February 1943.
- Chipana (CLD-21): Laid down at Talcahuano April 1942, completed May 1943.
- Talcahuano (CLD-22): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1942, completed August 1943.
- Abtao (CLD-23): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1942, completed October 1943.

Image originally by thesmilingassassin and modified by me.

Battle-class, Chilean Destroyer Leader laid down 1940
The Battle-class (unofficially sometimes called the Angamos-class) was an outgrowth of the Chilean Navy's harsh experience at the Battle of Ilo, where four large Peruvian destroyers led by the Independencia wiped out a division of much smaller Chilean "light destroyers". This experience shattered the Chilean Navy's opinion of small surface escorts and led to a massive upswing in the size of Chilean destroyers designed postwar. Simultaneously, the Armada felt the converted "flak cruisers" Astraea and Tierra del Fuego provided excellent service during the war, and the Naval Design Board proposed new-built design.

Due to budgetary concerns - the Magallanes-class "light cruisers" were growing and eating up increased portions of the 1940 budget - the Navy factions decided to forge a compromise with the Battle-class, building a hybrid of the "heavy destroyer" and the "flak cruiser". This led inadvertently to a secondary argument over how to classify the ships: the Battles were unarmoured and clearly smaller than most light cruisers, while they substantially outgunned and outmassed most destroyers. The Armada finally settled on calling them "destroyer leaders" (although this was a misnomer as they operated together, rather than as flagships for flotillas). In a nod to the counter-arguments, however, the Battles received hull numbers in sequence with cruisers, and carried the designation "CLD" for "Light Cruiser, Dual Role".

The Battles were one of the first ships in the Chilean Navy to use the CODAS (combined diesel and steam) power arrangement. This arrangement used a pair of Austral-licensed B&W maritime diesels for economical cruising up to approximately sixteen knots, and two steam turbines to make "dash speeds" up to thirty-four knots. The diesels also provided enough electricity to operate the increasing quantities of electrical systems installed aboard Chilean warships, such as dradis. Although there was some uncertainty in the Armada regarding the reliability of maritime diesels, the B&Ws proved to be more reliable in operation than regular steam plants.

Displacement:
3,575 t light; 3,838 t standard; 4,345 t normal; 4,751 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
507.64 ft / 492.13 ft x 47.57 ft x 14.76 ft (normal load)
154.73 m / 150.00 m x 14.50 m x 4.50 m

Armament:
8 - 5.12" / 130 mm guns (4x2 guns), 67.03lbs / 30.40kg shells, 1940 Model
Automatic rapid fire guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
8 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm guns (4x2 guns), 13.50lbs / 6.12kg shells, 1940 Model
Automatic rapid fire guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
8 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns (4x2 guns), 1.95lbs / 0.88kg shells, 1940 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
Weight of broadside 660 lbs / 299 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 450
8 - 23.6" / 600 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 2.00" / 51 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm
2nd: 1.50" / 38 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm

- Conning tower: 2.00" / 51 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines plus diesel motors,
Electric motors, 2 shafts, 57,694 shp / 43,040 Kw = 34.00 kts
Range 7,500nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 913 tons

Complement:
266 - 347

Cost:
£2.543 million / $10.174 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 99 tons, 2.3 %
Armour: 68 tons, 1.6 %
- Belts: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 57 tons, 1.3 %
- Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Conning Tower: 11 tons, 0.3 %
Machinery: 1,543 tons, 35.5 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 1,705 tons, 39.2 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 771 tons, 17.7 %
Miscellaneous weights: 160 tons, 3.7 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
2,702 lbs / 1,226 Kg = 40.3 x 5.1 " / 130 mm shells or 0.7 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.13
Metacentric height 2.1 ft / 0.6 m
Roll period: 13.9 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 70 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.54
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.09

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has low quarterdeck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.440
Length to Beam Ratio: 10.34 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 25.44 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 61 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 64
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 6.56 ft / 2.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 24.61 ft / 7.50 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 21.33 ft / 6.50 m
- Mid (50 %): 18.04 ft / 5.50 m
- Quarterdeck (20 %): 11.48 ft / 3.50 m (18.04 ft / 5.50 m before break)
- Stern: 11.48 ft / 3.50 m
- Average freeboard: 18.14 ft / 5.53 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 139.1 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 145.9 %
Waterplane Area: 15,385 Square feet or 1,429 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 106 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 65 lbs/sq ft or 319 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.72
- Longitudinal: 1.53
- Overall: 0.78
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform

Breakdown of Miscellaneous Weights:
- 65 tons for Suite-42a electronics
- 18 tons for eight reload torpedoes (4,410 lb each)
- 15 tons for Colocolo antisubmarine rocket-launched depth charges
- 10 tons for air-conditioning and heating
- 12 tons for depth charges (56x420-lb bombs)
- 10 tons for miscellaneous radio, electronics and ECM gear
- 30 tons for crew comforts and future additions
160 tons total miscellaneous weight

Suite-42a Electronics
- Type 102 "Cactus" surface search radars (2 radars, 15 tons)
- Type 203 "Cabrillas" air search radars (1 radar, 5 tons)
- Type 301 "Boldo" fire-control radars (1 radar, 10 tons)
- Type 202 Jabali height-finding radar (1 radar, 5 tons)
- SAGEM HF/DF (5 tons)
- SPR-42 Sound Projector-Receivers (10 tons)
- Roth-389 backup diesel generator set (5 tons)
- Mk42 Nevada Gunnery Computer and Battle Room facilities (10 tons)

Ships in Class:
- Angamos (CLD-16): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1940, completed August 1941.
- Iquique (CLD-17): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1940, completed November 1941.
- Punta Gruesa (CLD-18): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1941, planned for completion August 1942.
- Casma (CLD-19): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1941, completed November 1942.
- Papudo (CLD-20): Laid down at Talcahuano January 1942, completed February 1943.
- Chipana (CLD-21): Laid down at Talcahuano April 1942, completed May 1943.
- Talcahuano (CLD-22): Laid down at Talcahuano July 1942, completed July 1943.
- Abtao (CLD-23): Laid down at Talcahuano October 1942, completed October 1943.

Notes:
Some debate and confusion in the Armada de Chile about how to classify these ships. They have a heavy destroyer's gun, torpedo and ASW armament and a cruiser's machinery set and hull. They have received cruiser hull numbers but will be classified as a destroyer for officer assignments. The designations "corvette", "frigate", "esploratori", "scout cruiser", "contradestroyer", "destroyer leader", "superdestroyer" and "assault frigate" have all been discussed, with "destroyer leader" and "frigate" becoming standard use.