Naval Campaign of the War of the Pacific
Encyclopedia
| Warship Warship A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships... |
tons Tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume... (L.ton Long ton Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton... ) |
Horse- power Horsepower Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the... |
Speed Speed In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as... (Knots) |
Armour Iron armour Iron armour was a type of armour used on ironclad warships. The earliest material available in sufficient quantities for armouring ships was iron, wrought or cast. The use of iron gave rise to the term ironclad as a reference to a ship 'clad' in iron.... (Inch) |
Main Artillery Artillery Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons... |
Built Year |
 CochraneChilean battery ship Almirante Cochrane The armored frigate Almirante Cochrane was a ship of the Chilean Navy in the late nineteenth century. She was built, like her twin, the armored frigate Blanco Encalada, in the UK in 1875. She participated in the War of the Pacific, with her most prominent action being her defeat of the Peruvian... |
3,560 | 2,000 | 9-12,8 | up to 9 | 6x9 Inch | 1874 |
| Blanco Encalada Chilean frigate Blanco Encalada (1875) Blanco Encalada was an armored frigate built by Earle's Shipbuilding Co. in England for the Chilean Navy in 1875. She was nicknamed El Blanco... |
3,560 | 3,000 | 9-12,8 | up to 9 | 6x9 Inch | 1874 |
 HuascarHuáscar (ship) Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of... |
1.130 | 1,200 | 10-11 | 4½ | 2x300-pounders | 1865 |
| Independencia |
2,004 | 1,500 | 12-13 | 4½ | 2x150-pounders | 1865 |
| Manco Cápac USS Oneota (1864) USS Oneota, a coastal monitor built at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Alexander Swift & Co., and by the Niles Works, was launched 21 May 1864.Completed shortly after the end of the American Civil War, on 10 June 1865, Oneota was laid up until sold to her builder, Alexander Swift and Co., 13 April 1868, and... |
1.034 | 320 | 6 | 10 | 2x500-pounders | 1864 |
| Atahualpa USS Catawba (1864) USS Catawba was a Canonicus-class monitor built for the American Civil War; but completed too late to see action in that conflict. To help finance the Reconstruction, Catawba was sold to Peru.-Construction and sale:... |
1.034 | 320 | 6 | 10 | 2x500-pounders | 1864 |
The Atacama Desert
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
was a rough terrain to conquer and occupy for long. It was nearly waterless and had few roads and railroads. From the beginning of the war it became clear that, to seize or defend the local nitrate resources in a difficult desert terrain, control of the sea would be the deciding factor.
Navies and ships involved
In 1879 Bolivia didn't possess any ships, but on March 26, 1879 Daza formally offered letters of marqueLetter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
to any ships willing to go to combat for Bolivia. Bolivia hadn't signed the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law but the USA, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
stood by the treaty and refused to accept the legality of Bolivia's act. Since Bolivia hadn't any more because Chile hand occupied them, and because Peru discouraged the use of Letters of Marque, the naval conflict was left to be resolved between Chile and Perú.
The power of the Chilean navy was based on the twin central-battery ironclad frigates
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
, Cochrane and Blanco Encalada. The rest of the fleet was formed by the corvettes O'Higgins, Chacabuco, Abtao, and Esmeralda, the gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Magallanes, and the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Covadonga.
The Peruvian navy based its power on the broadside ironclad frigate Independencia and the monitor
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
Huáscar. The rest of the fleet was completed by the corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Unión, the gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Pilcomayo, and the coastal monitors Atahualpa and Manco Cápac, purchased from the United States at the end of the Civil War The coastal monitors cannot be classed among the sea-going ships of Perú as they were permanently stationed, one at Callao and the other at Arica. Although both the Chilean and Peruvian ironclads seemed evenly matched, the Chilean ironclads had twice the armor and held a greater range and hitting power.
| Warship Warship A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships... |
tons Tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume... (L.ton Long ton Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton... ) |
Horse- power Horsepower Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the... |
Speed Speed In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as... (Knots) |
Main Artillery Artillery Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons... |
Built Year |
| O'Higgins |
1,101 | 300 | 12 | 3x115-2x70-2x12-pounders | 1874 |
| Chacabuco |
1,101 | 300 | 11 | 1x115-2x70-2x12-pounders | 1874 |
| Abtao |
1,051 | 300 | 8 | 3x115-3x30-pounders | 1870 |
| Magallanes |
772 | 260 | 11,5 | 1x115-1x64-2x20-pounders | 1874 |
| Covadonga |
412 | 140 | 7 | 2x70-3x40-pounders | 1859 |
| Esmeralda |
854 | 200 | 8 | 16x32-2x12-pounders | 1855 |
| Unión |
1.150 | 320 | 13 | 12x68-1x9-pounders | 1864 |
| Pilcomayo |
600 | 180 | 10,5 | 2x70-4x40-pounders | 1864 |
Blockade and battle of Iquique
In one of the first naval tactical moves of the war, the Peruvian port of IquiqueIquique
Iquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
was blocked by of the Chilean Navy. In the Battle of Iquique
Battle of Iquique
The Battle of Iquique was a confrontation that occurred on May 21, 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific, a conflict between Chile and Peru and Bolivia. The battle took place off the, by then, Peruvian port of Iquique...
, which took place on May 21 of 1879, the Peruvian monitor Huáscar, sank the Chilean corvette Esmeralda. At around the same time, the Peruvian frigate Independencia, chased the Chilean schooner Covadonga through shallow coastal zones until the heavier Independencia rammed against a rock and run aground in Punta Gruesa
Battle of Punta Gruesa
The Battle of Punta Gruesa took place on May 21, 1879 during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. This may be labelled as the second part of the Naval Battle of Iquique, although it is described in many sources as a separate battle.-Context:...
. The strategic result of the naval battles of Iquique and Punta Gruesa were to lift of the blockade of the port of Iquique.
Excursions of the Huáscar
The outgunned Huáscar managed to avoid engagement with the superior battleships of the Chilean navy for six months. Among the actions of these "Excursions of the Huáscar" are the Battle of Antofagasta (May 26, 1879) and the Second Battle Antofagasta (August 28, 1879). The most successful of the excursions was the capture of the steamship Rímac on July 23, 1879. Not only was the ship captured, but the cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
regiment Carabineros de Yungay which was on board was also captured, making this the largest loss of the Chilean army so far. This caused a crisis in the Chilean government which in turn caused the resignation of Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo
Juan Williams Rebolledo
Juan Williams Rebolledo was a Chilean rear admiral who was the organizer and commander-in-chief of the Chilean navy at the beginning of the War of the Pacific.-Early life:...
commander of the Chilean fleet, who was replaced by Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas, who devised a plan to catch the Huáscar.
Battle of Angamos
The decisive battle of the sea campaign took place in Punta AngamosBattle of Angamos
The Battle of Angamos was fought on October 8, 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific . The Chilean Navy, commanded by Captain Galvarino Riveros and Captain Juan Jose Latorre surrounded and captured the ironclad Huáscar, commanded by Rear Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario, who died in...
, on October 8, 1879. In this battle, the monitor Huáscar was finally captured by the Chilean Navy, despite the attempts of its crew to scuttle the ship and keep it out of enemy hands. Finally the Peruvian Navy was completely defeated during the blockade of Callao, where the Peruvian fleet was set on fire and the coastal defenses of Callao
Callao
Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
were destroyed or captured and taken to Chile.
Blockade of Callao
| Warship Warship A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships... |
Deplacement (Long ton Long ton Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton... ) |
Horsepower Horsepower Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the... |
Speed Speed In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as... (Knots) |
Iron armour Iron armour Iron armour was a type of armour used on ironclad warships. The earliest material available in sufficient quantities for armouring ships was iron, wrought or cast. The use of iron gave rise to the term ironclad as a reference to a ship 'clad' in iron.... (Inch) |
Number of Gun Gun A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,... s x Lb Pound (mass) The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement... |
Built Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ironclads | ||||||
| Chile | ||||||
| Cochrane | 2.082 | 500 | 13 | 9½ | 6x250 2x20 2x9 | 1874 |
| Blanco Encalada Chilean frigate Blanco Encalada (1875) Blanco Encalada was an armored frigate built by Earle's Shipbuilding Co. in England for the Chilean Navy in 1875. She was nicknamed El Blanco... |
2.082 | 500 | 13 | 9½ | 6x250 2x20 2x9 | 1874 |
| Peru | ||||||
| Huáscar Huáscar (ship) Huáscar is a 19th century small armoured turret ship of a type similar to a monitor. She was built in Britain for Peru and played a significant role in the battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific against Chile before being captured and commissioned with the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of... |
1.180 | 300 | 11 | 4½ | 2x250 | 1864 |
| Independencia Peruvian ironclad Independencia Independencia was an broadside ironclad built in England for the Peruvian Navy during the mid-1860s. Independencia and Huáscar where the two main ships of the Peruvian Navy at the start of the War of the Pacific with Chile. Independencia ran aground while pursuing Covadonga during the naval battle... |
2.004 | 550 | 11 | 4½ | 2x150 12x70 4x32 4x9 | 1864 |
| Manco Capac | 1.084 | 880 | 4 | 10 | 2x500 Smoothbore Smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:... |
1864 |
| Atahualpa | 1.084 | 350 | 4 | 10 | 2x500 Smoothbore | 1864 |
| Wooden ships | ||||||
| Chile | ||||||
| Esmeralda | 854 | 200 | 8x40 4x80 2x6 | older | ||
| O'Higgins | 1.101 | 800 | 8x115 2x70 4x40 2x6 | 1874 | ||
| Chacabuco | 1.101 | 800 | 8x115 2x70 4x40 2x6 | 1874 | ||
| Covadonga | 412 | 140 | 2x70 1x40 | older | ||
| Magallanes | 772 | 260 | 1x115 1x64 2x20 | 1874 | ||
| Abtao | 1.051 | 300 | 1x150 4x82 | 1870 | ||
| Peru | ||||||
| Unión | 1.150 | 400 | 12x70 1x9* | 1864 | ||
| Pilcomayo | 600 | 180 | 2x70 4x40 4x12 | 1873 | ||
