 Huáscar in 1903 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) Peru | |
| Name | Huáscar |
| Ordered | 4 August 1864 |
| Builder | Laird Brothers,Birkenhead,England |
| Launched | 7 October 1865 |
| Commissioned | 8 November 1866 |
| Captured | Captured byChile at theBattle of Angamos, 8 October 1879 |
 Chile | |
| Acquired | 8 October 1879 |
| Decommissioned | 1897 |
| Reinstated | 1934 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ironcladturret ship |
| Displacement | 1,870long tons (1,900 t) |
| Length | 66.9 m (219 ft 6 in) |
| Beam | 10.9 m (35 ft 9 in) |
| Draught | 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion | 1 × screw; 1 ×Horizontal-return connecting rod-steam engine |
| Sail plan | Brig-rigged |
| Speed | 12knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 170 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
Huáscar is anironcladturret ship owned by theChilean Navy built in 1865 for thePeruvian government. It is named after the 16th-centuryInca emperor,Huáscar.[1] She was theflagship of thePeruvian Navy and participated in theBattle of Pacocha and theWar of the Pacific of 1879–1883. At theBattle of Angamos,Huáscar, captained by renowned Peruvian naval officerMiguel Grau Seminario, was captured by the Chilean fleet and commissioned into the Chilean Navy.
TodayHuáscar is one of the few surviving ships of her type. She has been restored and is amemorial ship anchored inTalcahuano,Chile.Huáscar is the second oldest armored warship afloat afterWarrior, and the oldestmonitor afloat.
CaptainCowper Coles, wrote ofHuáscar: "...as a sea-going vessel of 1,100 tons, 300-horse power, and a speed of 12 1/4 knots. Her foremast is fitted with tripods; she carries two 300-pounders in one turret."[2] And "...the "Huascar" class of 1865 fitted with a hurricane deck; she was one of six different classes designed and built by Messrs.Laird Brothers, to whom the credit for their great success is due. She can fire right ahead from her 300-pounders, and aft within 15 degrees of the line of keel, but would have a stern chaser either on or under herpoop."[3]
The British magazineEngineering described it: "She is an armour-clad monitor built by Messrs. Laird Brothers, of Birkenhead, in 1866...... She is 190 ft. in length between perpendiculars, 35 ft. in extreme breadth, and 19 ft. 9 in. in depth of hold. Her builder's tonnage is 1101, and indicated horse power 1500. Her draught of water is 15 ft. 6 in., and her maximum speed is said to be 12 knots when her boilers are in good condition, and the bottom is clean. Her usual speed under good working conditions is probably not more than 10 1/2 to 11 knots. She is propelled by a single screw. The Huascar is a rigged two-masted vessel, the foremast being upon Captain Cole's tripod principle. Her freeboard, or height of deck above water, is about 5 ft. She carries two 300-pounder Armstrong guns in one turret, which is protected by 5 1/2-in. armour plating upon a teak backing of 14 in. The sides are protected by armour plating 4 1/2 in. thick amidships, tapering to 2 1/2 in. at the extremities, which is also worked upon a teak backing of 14 in. There is an armoured pilot tower of hexagonal form abaft the turret from which the ship is worked in action; and the openings in the deck are protected by 2-in. iron plates that are shipped in the openings for skylights or hatchways. The Huascar is an iron-built vessel, and at the time she was built was most perfect in all the appliances of defence, and in her internal arrangements."[4]
Huáscar was ordered by the Peruvian government from the British shipbuilderJohn Laird Sons & Company in 1864 for thewar against Spain. Laird House had extensive experience of these advanced ships, designing and building the "Laird ram". She was built for a price slightly more than£81,000, and launched inBirkenhead on 7 October 1865.
Commanded by Peruvian-Chilean Captain José María Salcedo, a naval officer in service of the Peruvian government, who had supervised construction on behalf of thePeruvian Navy, she left for Peru on 20 January 1866 on a trip that saw some trouble: a month-long wait atBrest, a minor collision with the ironcladIndependencia on 28 February, refusal of service by neutral countries, a month of repairs atRio de Janeiro, insubordination byIndependencia's commander and the capture and sinking of the Spanish brigantineManuel. When she finally arrived in port atAncud in allied Chile to join the rest of the combined fleet on 7 June, it was too late for her to participate in the conflict.
Under Captain Lizardo Montero,Huáscar prepared atValparaíso to participate in a late 1866 expedition to fight the Spanish fleet in thePhilippines. However Montero, with several other Peruvian officers, objected to plans for Rear AdmiralJohn R. Tucker –formerly a commander of Confederate warships during theAmerican Civil War – to command the fleet, and requested to be relieved. Captain Salcedo took back command ofHuáscar, but the expedition was eventually cancelled.
In February 1868, Peruvian naval officerMiguel Grau took command ofHuáscar and would remain in command until 1876, becoming her longest-serving commander. His long years aboard the ironclad would prove very valuable later and he would also become Peru's most renowned naval officer.
Huáscar participated inNicolás de Piérola's 1877 attempt to overthrow the Peruvian government. On the 6 May, two of de Piérola's supporters, Colonel Lorranaga and Major Echenique, boarded theHuáscar at the port ofCallao while the captain and executive officer where ashore. Some of the ship's officers on board were part of the plot and persuaded the crew to join their cause. Now in rebel hands, theHuáscar put to sea withLuis Germán Astete in command. Other Peruvian naval ships present in the port, such as theAtahualpa were in a state of disrepair and unable to pursue.[5] The ship was used to harass, sabotage and disrupt government forces and shipping lanes. During these actions foreign shipping was also affected, leading to British intervention.
On 29 May 1877, she fought the inconclusiveBattle of Pacocha against two British vessels, thefrigateHMSShah and thecorvetteHMSAmethyst, commanded by AdmiralAlgernon Frederick Rous de Horsey. This battle saw the first use in combat of the newly invented self-propelledtorpedo which, at the time, had just entered limited service with theRoyal Navy;Huáscar successfully outran the torpedo fired byHMS Shah.[6]Huáscar surrendered to the government after almost one month in rebel hands.[7]
Huáscar participated in theWar of the Pacific (1879–1883), initially in the service of Peru. Once again under the command of Captain Grau, she became famous for daring harassment raids on Chilean ports and transports. As a result, during the opening months of the war, the ground invasion was delayed for almost six months until the Chilean fleet could find and stopHuáscar.
On 21 May 1879Huáscar led the lifting of the Chilean blockade ofIquique. During theBattle of Iquique, the Chilean captain of the corvetteEsmeralda,Arturo Prat, was killed onHuáscar's deck. After sinking the corvette by repeated ramming,Huáscar rescued the survivors, then continued pursuit of a fleeing enemy ship, theVirgen de Covadonga,a one-time Spanish ship that was captured in theBattle of Papudo in 1865 and incorporated into the Chilean Navy.
During the next 137 daysHuáscar not only evaded confrontation with the enemy fleet, following orders from the Peruvian government, but made the coast insecure for Chilean transport ships. Her biggest prize was the Chilean gunned transportRímac with 260 men of the cavalry regiment "Carabineers of Yungay". On 28 August 1879Huáscar attacked the Chilean corvetteAbtao atAntofagasta with a self-propelledLay torpedo only to have it reverse course; theHuascar was saved when Lieutenant Fermín Diez Canseco jumped overboard to divert the torpedo.[8]
Determined to secure the supply lines needed for the invasion of Perú, the Chileans committed every possible unit to hunt downHuáscar. On 8 October 1879Huáscar was captured by the Chilean Navy under the command ofGalvarino Riveros Cárdenas at theBattle of Angamos, during which Rear Admiral Grau and 32 of her crew of 200 were killed.
After the Battle of Angamos,Huáscar entered the service of the Chilean Navy. AtArica she fought a duel with the Peruvian monitorManco Cápac while participating in the bombardment of the city – where her new commanderManuel Thomson was killed – and she also aided in the blockade of Callao.
After the war, in 1885 and 1887,Huáscar was renovated, including renewal of boilers, new screw design, and all-new steam engines to move the gun and artillery turrets.
In May 1888, as part of a ceremonial division commanded by Rear AdmiralLuis Uribe,Huáscar brought the bodies of the officers of theEsmeralda from their graves at Iquique to a new burial place at Valparaíso. These were the same officers killed onHuáscar's deck at the Battle of Iquique; Rear Admiral Uribe had been theexecutive officer aboardEsmeralda and a survivor of the battle.
Huáscar participated in the1891 Chilean Civil War between government and congress. Undergoing major maintenance work at the onset of the war, she was seized and towed out of Valparaíso by the rebel-leaning navy, and readied for action within three days.
Commanded by CaptainJosé María Santa Cruz, she participated in the takeover of the port city ofTaltal by the rebels, ran escort duty for convoys and protected rebel-held ports. She returned once more to the port of Iquique, this time to bombard the port city held by government forces. After almost eight months of fighting, the war ended with the government's surrender.
Huáscar continued serving the Chilean Navy until a boiler explosion in 1897 at theTalcahuano military harbour resulted in her decommissioning. Partially repaired, she later served as the firstsubmarine tender in the Chilean Navy from 1917 to 1930.
In the early 1930sHuáscar was taken in hand for reconditioning as a heritage ship. Recommissioned in 1934,Huáscar was now armed with two 8-inch guns, three 4.7 inch guns and four 47 mm guns. It now wore the flag of the Port Admiral at Talcahuano. As late as 1949 she was listed inJane's Fighting Ships as acoast defense ship; the photograph ofHuáscar in that year's edition dated from 1938.[9]
When she was recommissioned in 1934,Huáscar was the oldest vessel of theChilean Navy. In 1951 and 1952, work was undertaken with the aim to completely restore her to her 1897 condition, when she finished her service in the Chilean Navy, and declare her a shrine[10] to the glory of both the Peruvian and Chilean navies.
She became a floating museum and a memorial, displaying many objects and relics recovered from Navy warehouses or donated by private citizens from the Talcahuano andConcepción area, including:
Between 1971 and 1972, a second restoration phase was undertaken at the Chilean Navy's drydock in Talcahuano: the hull was completely repaired, and engines rebuilt according to original blueprints obtained in England. Since then, a strict maintenance program ensures survival and preservation for future generations.[citation needed]
In 1995, the World Ship Trust conferred theMaritime Heritage Award on the Chilean Navy for its restoration ofHuáscar.[11]Huáscar is berthed at the port of Talcahuano, Chile. The Talcahuano Naval Base and Shipyards were devastated by the2010 Chile earthquake and the resultingtsunami; althoughHuáscar was at the base then, she survived with no apparent damage and reopened to visitors in March 2011.[12]
Huáscar is one of the few early-ironclad-era warships still afloat.Huáscar remains highly regarded in both Peru and Chile, being considered as the site where PeruvianAdmiral of the FleetMiguel Grau, and the Chilean CaptainsArturo Prat and Manuel Thomson each lost their lives in naval combat.[citation needed]
36°42′19.7″S73°6′41.1″W / 36.705472°S 73.111417°W /-36.705472; -73.111417