ARA Almirante Brown ( 1880 ) ARA " Almirante Brown " was a central battery ironclad of the Argentine Navy built in the 1880s by Samuda Brothers in London . " Almirante Brown " displaced and had a top speed of . The ship was protected by a belt of steel - faced armor and she carried a main battery of eight breech - loading guns . She was among the first major warships in the world to use steel armor , and remained the largest vessel in the Argentine fleet for nearly two decades . " Almirante Brown " had a peaceful career in the fleet during the 1880s and 1890s . By the 1920s , she was reduced to a coastal defense ship , and remained in service until the early 1930s . She was stricken from the naval register in November 1932 and sold for scrapping . Design . General characteristics and machinery . " Almirante Brown " was long between perpendiculars , and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced up to with a combat load . Her hull was steel - built , with a wood and zinc sheathing . The hull included a double bottom and a ram bow . She was fitted with two pole masts . The ship had a crew of 520 officers and men . Her propulsion system consisted of two compound steam engines that drove a pair of propellers . Steam for the engines was provided by eight coal - fired , cylindrical water - tube boilers . The boilers were split into four separate , watertight boiler rooms , and both of the steam engines were in individual engine rooms . The engines were rated at and produced a top speed of . " Almirante Brown " had the capacity to store up to of coal for the boilers . In addition to her steam engines , " Almirante Brown " was fitted with a sailing rig for auxiliary cruising . The sail plan had an area of . Armament and armor . " Almirante Brown " was equipped with a main battery of eight BLR Armstrong gun s , all mounted individually in casemate s . Six were in a central battery , and the other two were in the bow and stern . These breech - loading guns were a new development , which rendered " Almirante Brown " a significantly more powerful vessel than even those that had been completed a few years earlier . She also carried six guns , also in single mounts , all on the upper deck . Four were mounted forward , and two were located aft , on either side of the 8 - inch stern - chaser . Close - range defense against small craft was provided by a pair of 9 - pounder guns and a pair of 7 - pounder guns . The ship was protected with compound armor with a steel face manufactured by the German firm Siemens ; the use of steel armor was a new development in naval technology , and permitted significant weight savings . The main armored belt was thick amidships , and reduced to at the bow and stern . Below the main belt was a strake of armor that was thick amidships and on either end of the ship . The central battery was protected by 8 in of armor plate in the lower strake , and 6 in of armor in the upper strake . Atop the central battery , the armored deck was thick , while the deck fore and aft of the battery was thick . The conning tower also had 8 in thick sides . Service history . In 1878 , Argentina made inquiries in Britain to buy a new , ocean - going capital ship for its navy , which to that point , had consisted of only coastal and riverine forces , centered on the two small s . " Almirante Brown " , the first large ironclad of the Argentine Navy , was ordered from the Samuda Brothers shipyard of London . She was launched on 6 October 1880 , and cost the Argentine government £270 , 000 . On 14 June 1881 , she conducted speed trials on the Maplin Mile , and achieved her designed speed of 14 knots at full power . Upon her delivery to Argentina , she was the largest vessel in the Argentine fleet , and remained so until the four " Garibaldi " - class armored cruiser s were acquired in the late 1890s . " Almirante Brown " was present during the ceremonies for the opening of the south basin in the harbor of Buenos Aires on 28 January 1889 . On 13 July 1892 , the ship was thought to be lost in a storm that claimed the torpedo boat " Rosales " . The protected cruiser " Veinticinco de Mayo " was also believed to have sunk in the storm , though both survived . In the following year , " Almirante Brown " , along with most of the heavy units in the Argentine Navy , took part in putting down the naval defections in the revolution of 1893 . In 1897 , " Almirante Brown " went into dry dock at the La Seyne shipyard in Toulon for modernization . Her main battery guns were replaced with ten 50 - caliber quick - firing Canet gun s ; six replaced the guns in the central battery , and the other four were mounted in pairs in place of the bow and stern guns . In addition , the old 4 . 7 - inch guns were replaced with new quick - firing models . Her crew was reduced to 380 officers and men . By the 1920s , " Almirante Brown " had been reduced to a coastal defense and training ship , having long since been rendered obsolete by the dreadnought battleship s " Moreno " and " Rivadavia " . On 17 December 1921 , crewmen from " Almirante Brown " rowed ashore to defeat a group of about 250 brigands based in Mata Tapera . The ship remained in service until the early 1930s . On 17 November 1932 , " Almirante Brown " was stricken from the naval register and subsequently discarded .