Blanco Encalada
|
History
|
Chile
|
Name
| Valparaiso
|
Namesake
| Manuel Blanco Encalada
|
Builder
| Earle's Shipbuilding
Co.,
Hull
|
Laid down
| 1873
|
Launched
| 8 May 1875
|
Completed
| 1875
|
Renamed
| Blanco Encalada
(1876)
|
Fate
| Sunk by torpedo, 23 April 1891
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Almirante Cochrane
-class
central battery ship
|
Displacement
| 3,480 long tons (3,540 t)
|
Length
| 210 ft (64.0 m)
|
Beam
| 46 ft 9 in (14.2 m)
|
Draught
| 19 ft 8 in (6.0 m)
|
Installed power
| 3,000
ihp
(2,200 kW)
|
Propulsion
| |
Sail plan
| Barque
rig
|
Speed
| 12
knots
(22 km/h; 14 mph)
|
Range
| 1,200
nmi
(2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
|
Complement
| 300
|
Armament
| |
Armour
| |
Blanco Encalada
was a
central battery ship
built by
Earle's Shipbuilding
Co. in England for the
Chilean Navy
in 1875. She was nicknamed
El Blanco
. She participated actively in the
War of the Pacific
, her most important action being the capture of the
Peruvian
monitor
Huascar
during the
Battle of Angamos
.
Blanco Encalada
formed part of the congressional forces that brought down President
Jose Manuel Balmaceda
in the
Chilean Civil War of 1891
. She was sunk during that conflict
on 23 April 1891
, becoming the first ironclad warship to be sunk by a self-propelled torpedo.
[1]
[2]
Background
[
edit
]
In 1871 the president of Chile,
Federico Errazuriz Zanartu
, sent the
Congress
a bill to authorize the executive to acquire two armored warships. The bill, which was approved only by a vote of no confidence,
[
clarification needed
]
stipulated that both vessels would be mid-sized frigates and would not cost more than 2 million pesos.
[
citation needed
]
Construction and commissioning
[
edit
]
Alberto Blest Gana
, the ambassador to the United Kingdom, was put in charge of the project. Blest Gana contracted the ship designer
Edward James Reed
, an ex-naval architect of the British
Admiralty
, as the technical advisor. Blest Gana contracted
Earle's Shipbuilding
Co. in
Hull
, Yorkshire to carry out the construction.
The two ships were named
Cochrane
and
Valparaiso
but later, upon arrival at port on 24 January 1876,
Valparaiso
was renamed
Blanco Encalada
by the decree of the Minister of War and Navy on 15 September 1876. This was in honor of the admiral and first president of the Republic of Chile,
Manuel Blanco Encalada
. The construction of
Blanco Encalada
started in April 1872 and the ship was
launched
in 1875.
In January 1878, the president
Anibal Pinto
ordered the ambassador to Europe, Alberto Blest Gana, to put the ships up for sale as soon as the dispute with
Argentina
was resolved to help alleviate the economic crises that prevailed in Chile. On behalf of Blest Gana, Reed offered the United Kingdom
Cochrane
for 220,000 pounds sterling, but the British were not interested. He then attempted to sell the ships to Russia with the same result.
Operational service
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
September 2014
)
|
Being the flagship of the Chilean armada,
Blanco Encalada
actively participated in the War of the Pacific. The frigate's first actions, under the command of Admiral
Juan Williams Rebolledo
, consisted of taking part in the
blockade of Iquique
and in the failed expedition to the port of
Callao
.
Afterward,
Blanco Encalada
tried, unsuccessfully, to hunt the Peruvian monitor
Huascar
. Williams’ inability to put an end to what became known as the "Huascar Raids" finally motivated him to resign his command. The failure of a decisive victory against the monitor is primarily owed to the bad state of the engines and boilers of
Blanco Encalada
and the skill of the commander of the Peruvian ship.
The command of
Blanco Encalada
fell to the new commander-in-chief of the navy, Comador
Galvarino Riveros Cardenas
, who ordered the Chilean armada to regroup and repair the ships. For this purpose,
Blanco Encalada
was anchored in
Mejillones
to make repairs to the engine using the workshops of the Salitres de Antofagasta Company. The hull was cleaned using divers brought from
Valparaiso
. The success of the repairs, which were finished at the end of September, was limited however. The ship could achieve, in a test voyage, a speed of only 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph). After the repairs,
Blanco Enclada
participated in the
Battle of Angamos
where the Chilean fleet finally captured
Huascar
on 8 October 1879. The last action in which
Blanco Encalada
participated was the capture, in the close quarters of
Mollendo
, of the gunboat
Pilcomayo
on 18 November.
Sinking
[
edit
]
Blanco Encalada
was sunk by a
torpedo
gunboat
in the
Battle of Caldera Bay
, Chile, on 23 April 1891 during the
1891 Chilean Civil War
.
Commanders of Blanco Encalada
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Much of this article was translated from
Blanco Encalada (fragata blindada)
.
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