Battle of Angamos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

War of the Pacific
Naval Battle of Angamos
Date October 8, 1879 Location near Punta de Angamos, Bolivia (present day Chile) Result Decisive Chilean victory
Combatants
Chile	Peru
Commanders
Juan Jose Latorre	Miguel Grau †
Strength
2 armoured battleships 3 corvettes 1 transport	1 turret ship
Casualties
7 dead	31 dead 4 missing 162 captured 1 turret ship captured

War of the Pacific
Topáter - Chipana - Iquique - Angamos - Pisagua - San Francisco - Tarapacá - Tacna - Arica - San Juan - Miraflores - Callao - La Concepción - Huamachuco - San Pablo

The Naval Battle of Angamos (October 8, 1879) was an important struggle in the War of the Pacific, where the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar was surrounded and captured by the Chilean Navy. The captain of the ironclad, Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau, was killed in the combat. After this battle, the Peruvian Navy was unable to prevent the invasion of its territory. The seas were cleared for the invasion of Peru and Bolivia.

[edit] Context

After the Naval Battle of Iquique, the Peruvian ironclad Huascar made several incursions challenging the Chilean naval dominion, attacking ports along its entire coast and capturing transports.

This sole ship was preventing Chile from invading Bolivian and Peruvian territory, and did so successfully for nearly five months. No attempt to disembark troops could be made, because the Huáscar was preventing the entire Chilean Navy from taking control of the sea.

Because Chile's plan was to achieve naval supremacy, prior to invading Bolivian and/or Peruvian territory, the Huascar had to be eliminated along with Admiral Grau.

Several efforts were made in order to capture or sink Huascar, but none succeeded. Finally, nearly six months after the naval combat of Iquique, the opportunity came for the Chilean Navy.

[edit] The Struggle

Six Chilean ships -- the Blanco Encalada and Cochrane casemate battleships among them -- were directed with the sole purpose of sinking or capturing the Peruvian vessel. An ambush had been set up, carefully planned by dividing the Fleet in two: one near the Bolivian coast and the other part waiting for instructions.

It was October 8, 1879. Near Punta de Angamos, the first part of the Fleet; led by the Cochrane; recognized the Huáscar and the corvette Unión. Admiral Grau, after ordering the Union to look for a safe port, prepared his ship for the battle. The persecution started.

The ironclad made the first shot at a distance of nearly 2,000 meters. None were capable of damaging the Cochrane. From the same distance Cochrane fired its first discharge of the battle. Their second shot hit Huascar directly in the bridge, killing Admiral Grau and some of his senior officers. Another shot cut an important part of the helm, leaving the ship without control. Several members of the surviving staff (Elías Aguirre, Melitón Carvajal and Diego Garezón) led the ironclad until the end of the battle, until it was clear that the ship would be captured.

Nearly two hours after the beginning of combat, the remaining crew of the ironclad made the decision to scuttle it rather than surrender it. The ship was eventually captured and prevented from sinking. It was the end of the War of the Pacific sea campaign. The Chilean navy then used the Huascar as one of its own ships.

[edit] References