Q&A · 2:33:11-2:34:18

A Chilean carrier-and-battlecruiser counterfactual

Keeping the Eagle hull and acquiring battlecruisers could have given Chile a striking regional force while sustaining British shipyard demand.

Question

What if Chile had kept the future HMS Eagle and also obtained two Invincible-class battlecruisers?

Short answer

Chile would have possessed a powerful small fleet, likely stimulating another South American arms race and more British export work.

Notes

The combination of Almirante Latorre, the future Eagle retained as a carrier, and two Invincible-class battlecruisers would have been unusually capable for South America. Chile would have gained heavy guns, fast surface units, and naval aviation in a compact force. Such a fleet could also have restarted or prolonged the regional arms competition with Argentina and Brazil. British yards would have benefited from continued foreign orders just as naval treaties reduced both domestic building and customers' perceived need for new capital ships. The counterfactual therefore connects Chilean force structure with the survival of Britain's export shipbuilding base.