''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 The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

, her most important action being the capture of the

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

monitor during the Battle of Angamos. ''Blanco Encalada'' formed part of the congressional forces that brought down President José 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.Stem, Robert. Destroyer Battles: Epics of Naval Close Combat, p. 22. Seaforth Publishing, 2008. .
online

Background

In 1871 the president of Chile, Federico Errázuriz Zañartu, sent the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

a bill to authorize the executive to acquire two armored warships. The bill, which was approved only by a vote of no confidence, stipulated that both vessels would be mid-sized frigates and would not cost more than 2 million pesos.

Construction and commissioning

Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalada around 1885

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 ''Valparaíso'' but later, upon arrival at port on 24 January 1876, ''Valparaíso'' 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, President Aníbal Pinto ordered the ambassador to Europe, Alberto Blest Gana, to put the ships up for sale as soon as the dispute with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

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 ''Huáscar''. Williams’ inability to put an end to what became known as the "Huáscar Raids" finally motivated him to resign his command. The failure of a decisive victory against the monitor was primarily owed to the bad state of the engines and boilers of ''Blanco Encalada'' and the skill of the commander of the Peruvian ship, Miguel Grau Seminario. The command of ''Blanco Encalada'' fell to the new commander-in-chief of the navy, Comador Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas, 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

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

. 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 . After the repairs, ''Blanco Enclada'' participated in the Battle of Angamos where the Chilean fleet finally captured ''Huáscar'' on 8 October 1879. The last action in which ''Blanco Encalada'' participated was the capture, in the close quarters of Mollendo, of the gunboat on 18 November.

Sinking

''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

File:Juan Williams Rebolledo.jpg, Juan Williams Rebolledo File:Galvarino Riveros - Armada.jpg, Galvarino Riveros

Notes

References

Much of this article was translated from Blanco Encalada (fragata blindada). * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco Encalada, 1875 1875 ships Ships built on the Humber Almirante Cochrane-class ironclads Ships of the War of the Pacific Maritime incidents in 1891 Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean