Almirante Latorre: big guns and oil-sprayed coal

Chile answered the South American capital-ship competition with a ten-gun, 14-inch design that made Brazil's fourteen 12-inch guns look less imposing. Twenty-one Yarrow boilers and a combination of low- and high-pressure turbines produced about 37,000 shaft horsepower. Coal was sprayed with oil to improve combustion, while separate oil burners remain uncertain in this account. At 22.75 knots, she was arguably one of the world's most powerful battleships of the moment. Heavy-gun prestige was inseparable from fuel, boilers, turbine layout, and attainable speed.