At the time when further armaments were suspended, the effective strength of the Argentine navy consisted of 3 ironclads, 6 first-class armoured cruisers, 2 monitors (old), 4 second-class cruisers, 2 torpedo cruisers, 3 destroyers, 3 high-sea torpedo boats, 14 river torpedo boats, 1 training ship, 5 transports, and various auxiliary vessels.
As to the number of vessels, which fluctuates from month to month, little can be said that is wholly accurate at any given moment, but, very roughly, the French navy in 1909 included 25 battleships, 7 coast defence ironclads, 19 armoured cruisers, 36 protected cruisers, 22 s1oops, gunboats, &c., 45 destroyers, 319 torpedo boats, 71 submersibles and submarines and 8 auxiliary cruisers.
He added, it is true, a few torpedo boats and destroyers, but he promptly had them dismantled on arrival at Constantinople.
Taking all into account, the available strength of the fleet might be put at 7 armour-clad ships, of which the " Messudiyeh " was one, the six others varying in displacement from 2400 to 6400 tons; two cruisers (unarmoured) of 3800 tons displacement; some 18 gunboats; 12 destroyers, 16 first-class torpedo boats and 6 second-class torpedo boats.
The naval strength of the republic consisted in 1906 of a collection of armoured and wooden vessels of various ages and types of construction, of which three armoured vessels (including the two designed for coast defence), four protected cruisers, five destroyers and torpedo-cruisers, and half a dozen torpedo boats represented what may be termed the effective fighting force.
