Battle of Angamos

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War of the Pacific
Naval Battle of Angamos
Date 8 October 1879 Location near Punta de Angamos, Bolivia Result Decisive Chilean victory
Belligerents
Chilean Navy	Peruvian Navy
Commanders
Juan Jose Latorre Galvarino Riveros	Miguel Grau †
Strength
2 ironclads 3 corvettes 1 transport	1 ironclad
Casualties and losses
1 dead 9 wounded[1]	31 dead 4 missing 162 captured 1 ironclad captured

The Naval 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 Huascar, commanded by Rear Admiral Miguel Grau Seminario, who died in combat. After the battle, the crippled Peruvian Navy was unable to prevent the invasion of its territory. The Huascar was repaired and served under the Chilean flag until its decommission, and now sits as a floating museum in the port of Talcahuano.

Background

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.

Since Chile's plan was to achieve naval supremacy prior to invading Bolivian and/or Peruvian territory, because the logistic advantage needed to launch a terrestrial campaign. No attempt to disembark troops could be made, because the Huascar was preventing the entire Chilean Navy from taking control of the sea, due to the diminished state of the Chilean vessels after a long campaign away from its base. In order to finish the naval stage, the Huascar had to be eliminated or captured.

The Chilean government decided to speed up the naval campaign to obtain the sea domination in order to initiate the land operations with the logistic support secured.

On September 20, the Chilean Navy sailed north escorting an important convoy with troops to Antofagasta. Once at Mejillones, Captain Galvarino Riveros reorganized the Fleet in two divisions as it follows:

• 1st Division: Commodore Galvarino Riveros.

Ironclad Blanco Encalada : Commodore Galvarino Riveros
Schooner Virjen de Covadonga : Lt. Captain Manuel Orella
Transport Matias Cousiño : Lt. Captain Augusto Castleton.

• 2nd Division: Commander Juan Jose Latorre

Ironclad Almirante Cochrane : Commander Juan Jose Latorre
Corvette O’Higgins : Lt. Captain Jorge Montt Alvarez
Transport Loa : Lt. Captain Javier Molinas Gacitua.

Chilean strategy

Naval Combat of Angamos by Thomas Somerscales

By October 1, Commander in Chief Galvarino Riveros cited his officers to a council were it was decided to hunt down the Peruvian vessel at Arica. But the same day, Grau ordered to sail for an incursion over Chilean shores until Coquimbo, alongside the corvette Union. Since Riveros sailed close to the shore, and Grau did in the open sea, both formations crossed over without seeing each other.

War Minister Sotomayor conceived a plan consisting in Latorre’s division to move perpendicularly to the coast at Mejillones, while Riveros’ division sailed to Antofagasta to observe and to defend the city. So, if the Huascar tried to attack the port, it would be surrendered by the Blanco Encalada and the heavier warships. On the other hand, if Grau passed by, Riveros could follow him to keep him from escaping to the south and force the Peruvian Admiral north into Latorre's division.

Back to Mejillones, on October 7 a plan was approved to deceive the Peruvian ships. Riveros would wait for Grau at Antofagasta while Latorre would set up a barrier-like formation about twenty miles from the shore. If Riveros spotted the Huascar, he would follow it and keep it from retreat to the south until Latorre could attack.

During the night the Peruvian warships were sailing back from the south to Arica when they saw the light of Antofagasta. Admiral Grau decided to engage the port trying to inflict some damage.

At 01:10 am of October 8, the Huascar searched the bay without encountering any objectives. It reunited again with the Union at 03:00 am and resume north.

At the same hour the sentries on the Blanco Encalada saw two smoke columns on the horizon. Simultaneously, Grau was informed about three columns to the north and decided to investigate.

At dawn both sides spotted each other and Grau turned to the south trying to escape. Riveros deliberately ordered a slowdown of the Chilean ships to make Grau think it was possible to turn back north and sail for Peru. At 05:40 hrs the Huascar and the Union began to slowly turn to the north. The Blanco Encalada sped up to prevent Grau from turning back to the south again.

At 07:15 Grau saw another two smoke columns far up north, which was Latorre’s division approaching. Since the Union could manage 13 knots it was able to sail northeast and escape, but the Huascar had to stay and fight.

The Struggle

Drawing of the Battle of Angamos

Battle of Angamos

At 09:25 hrs at Punta Angamos, the Huascar opened fire at the Cochrane, but the latter did not retaliate and continued to close, reaching its effective cannon range of 2,200 meters at 09:40 hrs, and Latorre’s ship began to shell the ironclad. One shot pierced the artillery turret wounding the twelve crew of the 300 lbs cannons, while another one perforated the armour right above the waterline cutting the left rudder chain and leaving the Huascar adrift, with a hard starboard list, because of a deformation in the hull due to the ramming at the Esmeralda at Iquique five months earlier. Ten minutes later an emergency rudder was set by the crew.

At 10:00 am, another hit from the Cochrane pierced the Huascar bridge killing Admiral Grau and his adjunct Diego Ferre^[2]. The explosion also shattered the rudder wheel. Lt. Captain Gaona’s artillery men caused heavy damage on the Peruvian vessel crew, since were they were using Palliser type armor piercing rounds, which exploded right after penetrating the hull. With Grau dead the command fell over Lt Captain Elias Aguirre.

At 10:10, the Huascar lowered its flag, but it was hoisted again, resuming the combat^[3]. Meanwhile, the Huascar crew repaired the rudder wheel.

At 10:22 am, with the Blanco Encalada and the Covadonga at close range, a Riveros' vessel shot perforated the artillery tower killing almost all of the crew posted there and damaged the right cannon. Another shot from the Cochrane passed through the officers chambers and wrecked the emergency rudder station, making the Huascar sail in a wide semicircle to starboard. Once rudder control was regained Aguirre tried to ram the Cochrane. Latorre manoeuvred to do the same thing, but the Peruvian ironclad suddenly fell to port and both ships passed by each other. Twelve minutes later, another shell pierced the artillery tower killing all of its operators, including Elias Aguirre. The command went to Lt Pedro Garezon, who decided along with the remaining officers to sink the ship before being captured. At 10:54 the order was given to evacuate the wounded from the machine room and open the seacocks.

The Chilean war ships, noticing that the Huascar was slowing down, began preparations to board it. At 11:08 am the vessel was boarded and the Chilean sailors closed the valves with 1.2 meters of water in the engine room. Also, several fires were extinguished as the Peruvian crew was transported to the Chilean vessels as prisoners of war.

Consequences

With capture of the Huascar, plus the previous neutralization of the Independencia at Punta Gruesa, the Peruvian Navy fire power was drastically reduced, bringing the sea campaign of the War of the Pacific to an end. From now on, the Chilean Navy was able to use the Huascar as one of its own ships.

The decisive victory at Angamos allowed the Chilean Army to freely decide the course of action to attack the Allies.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Navy of Chile
• Ahumada Moreno, Pascual (1884 - 1892). Guerra del Pacífico. Recopilación de todos los documentos oficiales, correspondencia y demás publicaciones referentes a la Guerra que ha dado a luz la prensa de Chile, Perú y Bolivia, conteniendo documentos inéditos de importancia. Imprenta del Progreso. 
• Farcau, Bruce W. (2000). The Ten Cents War: Chile, Peru, and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific, 1879-1884. ISBN 0-275-96925-8. 
• Navies in Modern World History (2004). Sondhaus, Lawrence. ISBN 1-86189-202-0. 

External links

• AgenciaPeruana de Noticias - Animation of the events taken place during the Battle of Angamos (Spanish)