Casto Secundino María Méndez Núñez (July 1, 1824 – August 21, 1869) was a Spanish naval officer. In 1866 during the

Chincha Islands War The Chincha Islands War, also known as Spanish–South American War ( es, Guerra hispano-sudamericana), was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia from 1865 to 1879. The ...

between

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, he was general commander of the Spanish fleet in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. As such, he bombarded and destroyed the port of Valparaiso, and fought the Battle of Callao (during which he was injured nine times.) Méndez Núñez was the first man to circumnavigate the world on an

ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...

: ''"Enloricata navis quae primo terram circuivit"''. When

Hugh Judson Kilpatrick Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (January 14, 1836 – December 4, 1881) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, achieving the rank of brevet major general. He was later the United States Minister to Chile and an unsuccessful candid ...

, the American Minister to Chile, learned that Commodore Méndez Núñez was to bombard the port of Valparaiso, he asked the American naval commander Commodore John Rodgers to attack the Spanish fleet. Méndez Núñez famously responded with "I will be forced to sink

he US ships He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

because even if I have one ship left I will proceed with the bombardment. Spain, the Queen and I prefer honor without ships than ships without honor (''España prefiere honra sin barcos a barcos sin honra''.)"

Spanish Navy ships

Four

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigat ...

warships were named Méndez Núñez in his honour, including: * An armoured frigate, converted from screw frigate ''Resolución'', renamed in 1870, retired in 1896 * A ''Blas de Lezo''-class cruiser built in 1924, retired in 1963 * The former USS ''O'Hare'' (DD-889), a ''Gearing''-class destroyer 1973–1992 * An ''Álvaro de Bazán''-class frigate commissioned in 2006 The municipality of

Mendez, Cavite Mendez, officially the Municipality of Mendez-Nuñez ( tgl, Bayan ng Mendez), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 34,879 people. Etymology The municipality ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, was also named in his honor.

Spanish Navy ships

See also

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