The Huáscar, was without a doubt, legendary and the most important warship of the Peru’s Navy in the 19th. century. Classified at the time of her construction as an armored coast defense tower ship, She was named after Huáscar by a general order authenticated by president Pezet on September 13rd., 1865, in honor of “….the last legitimate monarch who occupied the throne of the Incas, that locks up in himself great historical memories”. About her the British magazine “Engineering”, issued July 4, 1879, page 11, wrote: “The Huáscar 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.”. Her price was a bit more than £ 81,000 sterling pounds.

The ironclad Huascar was a model of the monitor type vessel first conceived during the Civil War of the United States of America, though small, the Huascar was most formidable vessel in the Peruvian Navy. Built at Birkenhead by Laird Brothers in 1865.

Technical Details

Following are her dimensions:

Built: Laird Bros., Ltd., Birkenhead, Eng.; 1865.

Huascar’s armouring was also impressive - her turret wall was 5.5-inch thick, with a 14-in. teak backing. The maximum thickness of her side plating was 4.5-inch, tapering to 2.5-inch at the bow and stern, backed like the turret with teak. She was brig-rigged with a tripod foremast, and had a freeboard of 4.5 ft. Her bows were designed for ramming.

In her closed turret mounted abaft the foremast she had two 10 inch twelve-and-a-half-ton Armstrong rifled muzzle-loading (RMLs), a 138-degree arc of fire on either beam, and her secondary battery consisted of two 40-pounders and some rapid-fire guns in her military tops, plus a 12-pounder under the poop. She carried one tripod mast (originally she had two masts, but the foremast was removed), on which was a military top protected by a breast-high plate of boiler iron and containing one Gatling. The broadside of the Huáscar, 680 lb.

The ship had a crew of 200 men.

The Naval Battle of Pacocha

In 1877 a civil war was raging in Peru, and political tensions were running high. The crew of tha Huascar mutinied, and declared themselves for the Peruvian rebels. After appointing their own captain, they used the powerful ironclad to attack shipping all along the Pacific coast of Peru. In effect, she had turned to piracy. Her victims included several British clipper ships, so warships of the British Pacific Squadron were dispatched to deal with her.

On 29 May two British warships – the steam-powered frigate HMS Shah and the steam corvette HMS Amethyst – finally cornered the ironclad off the Peruvian port of Ilo. In the battle that followed she was hit over 60 times, but none of the shots managed to penetrate her armour, or inflict any serious damage. At one stage the Shah even fired a torpedo at her, from a range of just 400 yards (370 m.) – the first time in history a self-propelled torpedo was launched in anger against an enemy warship. It missed. The Huascar’s own guns were a few effective (The gunners were improvised), and the battle ended when the shallow-drafted ironclad escaped from the British by anchoring close to the shore where the deep-drafted British ships could not reach her. The ironclad survived to continue her piratical rampage. Finnally, the Huascar was eventually recovered by the Peruvian Navy.

Nitrate War (1879-1884)

In the service of Peru the Huáscar participated in the Nitrate War and once again she was under the command of Captain Miguel 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 stop Huáscar.

In May 21, 1879, Huáscar led the lifting of the Chilean blockade of Iquique. During the battle, Chilean Captain Arturo Prat was killed on Huáscar's deck. Notably, after sinking the corvette Esmeralda by repeated ramming, Huáscar then rescued the survivors before continuing pursuit of the fleeing enemy ship “Covadonga”. Captain Miguel Grau sends to Prat´s wife an emotive letter and sends his belongings. For these actions Grau was named “The Gentlemen of the seas”.

After Iquique, the Peruvian fleet remained a great menace, mainly owing to the audacity and genius of Admiral Miguel Grau. Flying his flag on the Huáscar, which, together with the corvette Unión, broke through the Chilean blockade of Callao on three occasions, Grau wreaked havoc on Chilean shipping.

Huáscar returned to Callao for minor repairs and at this time the forward tripod was removed to allow forward fire. After the repairs Huáscar went on with her mission and for six months, the Huáscar roamed the seas and effectively cut off the Chilean supply lines. In an impressive display of naval mastery, Captain Grau was able to hold off the entire Chilean Navy, recover captured Peruvian vessels and severely damage many ports used by the Chilean Navy. These actions are known as the "Correrías del Huáscar" (Huáscar's Exploits) and as a result Grau was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. A brief listing of these actions include:

Damaged ports of Cobija, Tocopilla, Patillos and Mejillones, Huanillos, Punta de Lobos, Chañaral, Huasco, Caldera, Coquimbo and Taltal.

Sank 16 Chilean vessels.

Damaged Chilean vessels Blanco Encalada, Abtao, Magallanes, and Matías Cousiño.

Captured Chilean vessels Emilia, Adelaida Rojas, E. Saucy Jack, Adriana Lucía, Rímac, and Coquimbo.

Recovered Peruvian vessels Clorinda and Caquetá.

Destroyed artillery batteries of Antofagasta.

Destroyed Antofagasta-Valparaiso communications cable.

The whole Chilean fleet, consequently, concentrated only on one objective: To hunt and destroy the Huascar. It took the Chilean Navy a full day of sailing with six ships in order to corner the Húascar. Soon the Huascar, armed with five guns and one Gattling, would engage in one of the most fierce and unequal naval encounters against two powerful Chilean battleships protected by double armor and provided with an artillery of 42 guns, six machine-guns and eight torpedo-tubes. After the Huascar was trapped nearly two hours of bloody combat ensued with their Chilean battleships Blanco Encalada, Covadonga and Cochrane to cause her to founder with 76 artillery hits in the Naval Battle of Angamos on 8 October 1879. The dead included Admiral Grau.

More about the "Huáscar"
Old pictures and drawing of the Peruvian "Huáscar"

Huáscar's guns
Artillery and armament of the Peruvian Ironclad

Huáscar's interiors
Drawings, sketches of the Coles Turret