Argentine–Chilean naval arms race

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the South American nations of Argentina and Chile engaged in an expensive naval arms race to ensure the other would not gain supremacy in the Southern Cone. Although the Argentine and Chilean navies were insignificant in the 1860s, with zero and five warships, respectively, Argentina's concern over a strong Imperial Brazilian Navy and the Chilean war against Spain caused them to add capable warships to their fleets in the 1870s.

Source: Wikipedia — Argentine–Chilean naval arms race (CC BY-SA 4.0)