During the 1860s, the Royal Navy still regarded itself as the world's greatest fleet even as British industry supplied advanced warships to other countries. William Armstrong described Chile's Esmeralda as the world's fastest and most heavily armed cruiser. He warned that no British cruiser could catch or defeat her if she reached enemy hands, invoking the Confederate commerce raider Alabama as precedent. Armstrong was also trying to sell this cruiser type to the Royal Navy. The warning exposes a recurring arms-sales tactic: a foreign customer demonstrates the product, and the manufacturer then urges its own government to buy a counter.
Notable Point · 4:21-7:09
Esmeralda and the commerce-raider threat
William Armstrong presents Esmeralda as a fast, heavily armed threat to British commerce while also using that threat to promote domestic sales.