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Battle of Angamos
The Naval Battle of Angamos was an important struggle in the War of the Pacific, where the Peruvian ironclad Huascar 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.
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.
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 Huascar 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.
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.
On October 8, 1879, near Punta de Angamos, the first part of the fleet, led by the Cochrane spotted the Huascar and the corvette Union. After ordering the Union to look for a safe port, Admiral Grau prepared his ship for battle.
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. Its 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 led the ironclad until the end of the battle.
Nearly two hours after the beginning of combat, when it became clear that the ship would be captured, the remaining crew of the ironclad made the decision to scuttle it rather than surrender it. However, the ship was captured nonetheless, and prevented from sinking.
The capture of the Huascar brought an end to the sea campaign of the War of the Pacific. From this point forward, the Chilean navy was able to use the Huascar as one of its own ships.
References
Farcau, Bruce W. . The Ten Cents War: Chile, Peru, and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific, 1879-1884, ISBN 0-275-96925-8
Sondhaus, Lawrence . Navies in Modern World History, ISBN 1-86189-202-0
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Battle of Angamos
