Chilean battleship Capitán Prat Capitán Prat was a unique ironclad battleship of the Chilean Navy built in the late 1880s and completed in 1890 . Armed with a main battery of four guns in four single turrets , " Capitán Prat " was the first battleship in the world to be equipped with an electrical system . She was built in the La Seyne dockyard in France , and commissioned into the Chilean fleet in 1891 . Foreign navies tried to purchase the ship twice before the outbreak of wars , including an American attempt in 1898 and a Japanese offer in 1903 . " Capitán Prat " served in the fleet for about ten years , until she was disarmed in accordance with a treaty signed with Argentina intended to stop a naval arms race between the two countries . The ship returned to service , however , and remained on active duty with the fleet until 1926 , when she was reduced to a coastal defense ship . In 1928 – 1930 , she was used as a submarine tender , and in 1935 , she was disarmed and used as a training ship for engineers . She remained in the Navy ' s inventory until 1942 , when she was sold for scrap . Design . " Capitán Prat " was long between perpendiculars and had a beam of . She displaced and had a draft of . Her hull was steel - built , with wood and copper sheathing , and was equipped with a ram bow . The ship mounted two masts , both with fighting top s . She was powered by a pair of horizontal expansion engines that were supplied with steam by five cylindrical boilers . The boilers were trunked into two funnels on the centerline . Her propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of . She was designed to carry of coal , though she could carry up to . She had a crew of 480 officers and enlisted men . She was the first battleship of any navy to utilize electricity to power machinery . The ship was armed with a main battery of four / 35 caliber guns in single , electrically - powered turrets . One was placed forward , on the centerline , two were mounted amidships , and the fourth was located aft of the superstructure on the centerline . Her secondary battery consisted of eight guns in four twin turrets ; they were mounted on either side of the foremast and mainmast . Close - range defense against torpedo boat s was provided by a battery of six 6 - pounder guns , four 3 - pounder guns , and ten 1 - pounder guns . She was also armed with four torpedo tube s in deck - mounted launchers . One was in the bow , another in the stern , and two on the broadside . The ship ' s armor consisted of Creusot steel . Her armored belt was thick amidships above the waterline , and below . Above the waterline , the belt was reduced to forward and aft . The belt was below the waterline , on either end of the ship . The belt extended for above the waterline and below . The citadel was thick and protected the ship ' s machinery spaces amidships . It extended to the upper deck and was closed on either ends by bulkheads thick . Outside of the citadel , the deck was protected by thick armor . The barbette s for the main battery guns were thick , with thick hoods to protect the gun crews . The conning tower had thick sides . Service history . On 22 August 1887 , the National Congress of Chile passed a law authorizing the construction of new vessels to modernize the fleet . As part of this , they decided to order a new battleship from a foreign shipyard . The contract for constructing the new Chilean battleship was advertized throughout the European shipyards , and was sought by British , German , and French shipbuilders . The contract for " Capitán Prat " was awarded to the " Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée " shipyard in La Seyne , France on 18 April 1889 . The cost of the ship was agreed at £391 , 000 , and she was laid down in 1889 . The ship was launched on 20 December 1890 , commissioned into the Chilean fleet in 1891 , and arrived in Chile in May 1893 . " Capitán Prat " received favorable reviews from contemporary naval critics , as she was seen as a prime example of combining a high speed with good armament and armor protection . She was also heralded as " the most powerful war ship possessed by any South American Government . . . [ and ] any vessel at present in commission in the United States Navy . " The construction of the ship helped begin a naval arms race between Chile and Argentina . In addition to " Capitán Prat " , the Chilean Navy ordered two new protected cruiser s and a pair of torpedo boat s . Argentina responded with the battleships and . The race continued through the 1890s , even after the expensive 1891 Chilean Civil War . The race culminated in the orders for two armored cruiser s for the Argentine Navy and two " Constitución " - class battleships for the Chilean Navy , though the latter two were purchased by the United Kingdom . The British , concerned over the possibility of war between the two countries , mediated an agreement , which resulted in the Pactos de Mayo . The treaty ended the expensive arms race and stipulated that both countries arrive at an agreement to balance their fleets . The latter led to the demilitarization of " Capitán Prat " and two Argentine armored cruisers , though all were later rearmed . In March 1898 , shortly before the outbreak of the Spanish – American War , the US Navy attempted to purchase " Capitán Prat " to bolster its fleet for the coming conflict with Spain . The negotiations fell through , however , and the ship remained in Chile . By 1903 , in the prelude to the Russo - Japanese War , the Japanese government looked into purchasing " Capitán Prat " and the cruiser " Esmeralda " , along with other South American warships . " Esmeralda " was eventually purchased and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as " Izumi " . By 1907 , the ship was seen as outmoded in comparison to newer armored cruisers in the fleet . In 1909 – 1910 , the ship was modernized , which included the installation of twelve new Babcock & Wilcox watertube boiler s in place of the old cylindrical boilers , increasing the ship ' s top speed to . The height of her funnels was also increased . On 11 March 1916 , " Capitán Prat " suffered a magazine explosion while she was anchored in port in Valparaiso . Two cases of bad cordite propellant in the aft main battery magazine exploded . The construction of the ship , however , which provided a quick venting of the explosion , and defects in the propellant cases that allowed the explosive gasses to escape easily , saved the ship from destruction . The cordite was by that time 17 to 20 years old , about the maximum life - span of the propellant . By 1926 , " Capitán Prat " was reduced to a coast defense ship . From 1928 to 1930 , the ship was designated as a submarine tender for Chile ' s H and " Capitan O ' Brian " class submarines . She was disarmed in 1935 to serve with the mechanical training school . The old battleship was ultimately sold for scrap in 1942 .