The Second Battle of Topolobampo was a bloodless naval engagement during the Mexican Revolution. In March 1914, a rebel

Constitutionalist Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

attempted to break the

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

Topolobampo Topolobampo () is a port on the Gulf of California in northwestern Sinaloa, Mexico. It is the fourth-largest town in the municipality of Ahome (after Los Mochis, Ahome, and Higuera de Zaragoza), reporting a 2010 census population of 6,361 inha ...

, Sinaloa in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The attack forced

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

gunboats to a further distance but failed to lift the blockade.

Battle

On March 13, 1914, at 8:50 am, the rebel

''Tampico'', under

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Hilario Malpico, stood out for an attack on the federal gunboats, ''Guerrero'' and ''Morelos'', commanded by Captain Navio Torres. ''Tampico'' was spotted sailing out past the bar and as fast as possible the two federal warships were underway in ''Tampico''s direction. ''Guerrero'' fired the first shots at 9:00 am with her

gun battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

of six guns. Just like during the

First Battle of Topolobampo The First Battle of Topolobampo was a bloodless engagement and one of the few naval battles of the Mexican Revolution. The small action occurred off Topolobampo, Mexico and involved three gunboats, two from the Mexican Navy and another which mutin ...

, as soon as ''Tampico'' cleared Shell Point, she fired her broadside of two 4-inch guns and one gun at ''Morelos''. Her first shot landed about too short at a range of ; none of the others hit ''Morelos''. ''Guerrero'' and ''Morelos'' followed ''Tampico'' until stopping so ''Morelos'' could return ''Tampico''s broadside with some of her own fire. ''Morelos'' fired and then turned about to retreat southwestward; none of her shots hit either. During the retreat, ''Tampico'' continued to fire on ''Morelos'' which put the American cruiser , which was observing the battle, in direct line of ''Tampico''s fire. Realizing that he may hit a neutral vessel, Lieutenant Malpica shifted ''Tampico''s fire to ''Guerrero''. Captain Torres in ''Guerrero'', receiving fire again, chose to do the same as ''Morelos'' by turning around and fleeing, apparently in fear of ''Tampico''s guns. ''New Orleans'', shifted berth as well, to a safer position in the battle area. ''Tampico'' steamed back to the safe side of the bar and the two federal gunboats anchored farther south than their prior anchorage. All the firing ceased by 9:12 am; ''Guerrero'' fired a total of thirteen shells, ''Morelos'' nine, and ''Tampico'' fired six rounds. The range varied between 9,000 to 10,000 yards and no hits were made. This time the officers of USS ''New Orleans'' noted in their log that the gunnery of ''Tampico'' was considerably better than that of ''Guerrero'' or ''Morelos''.

Aftermath

Ultimately Lieutenant Malpica in ''Tampico'' failed to lift the federal blockade, but in the gunnery duel she was able to force ''Guerrero'' and ''Morelos'' to break off their attack, despite not actually hitting the federal ships with her guns. ''Tampico'' won a tactical victory by forcing the federal gunboats away though the federal gunboats continued a naval blockade of Topolobampo. ''Morelos'' left for Altata on March 30, a day before the

Third Battle of Topolobampo The Third Battle of Topolobampo was a single ship action during the Mexican Revolution. At the end of March 1914, a Constitutionalist gunboat attempted to break the blockade of Topolobampo, Sinaloa after failing in the First and Second Battle ...

and the sinking of ''Tampico''. ''Guerrero'' continued the blockade.

References

* Stefoff, Rebecca. Independence and Revolution in Mexico. (New York, Facts On File Inc, 1993). {{coord missing, Sinaloa Battles and conflicts without fatalities, Topolobampo 2 History of Mexico

1914 in Mexico

12 Second Battle Of Topolobampo March 1914 events

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References