Battleships of the fleets of South America

There is one interesting but undeservedly neglected chapter in the history of the battleship fleet - the battleships of smaller countries, and especially those of Latin America. Detailed studies of these ships have hardly been conducted, although in many reference books one can find the tactical and technical characteristics of any of them. But it is difficult to trace the dynamics of their development and understand the reason for this or that technical decision. It seems that, having experienced the peak of popularity at the moment of their appearance in their homeland, they did not interest at all in the developed countries, not only designers, but also fleet historians, and this is not fair. Unlike the "small" countries of Europe, in South America they built or ordered armoured battleships of almost all classes, both ocean-going ships and coastal defence ships, and sometimes according to rather original designs.