Valparaiso bombardment

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Spanish fleet shelling the port of Valparaiso

The Valparaiso bombardment was an episode of the Chincha Islands War, in which the Spanish fleet shelled, burned and destroyed the port of Valparaiso, Chile.

After the indecisive Battle of Abtao on February 7, 1866, Rear Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez decided to take punitive action against South American ports. When the Chilean government ordered that vessels communicating with the Spanish fleet should not be allowed to enter Chilean ports, Méndez Núñez first target became the undefended Chilean port of Valparaiso.

The American minister to Chile, General Hugh Judson Kirlpatrick, and US Naval Commander John Rodgers made, on March 23, an attempt at arbitration, which failed, as the chief condition of Admiral Méndez Núñez was the return of the captured Covadonga. Consequently the Spanish Admiral, notwithstanding the protest of the diplomatic corps, gave notice on the March 27 to all neutrals to evacuate the city.

The neutral British and American naval commanders in Chilean waters, Admiral Lord Thomas Denman and Commander John Rodgers, were unable and ultimately unwilling to prevent this action, and the Spanish bombarded the town and destroyed the Chilean merchant fleet on January 31, 1866. The Spanish fleet bombarded the port for three hours without the fire being returned, as Valparaiso was totally defenseless. The loss in public and private property was estimated at $1,000,000, and in merchandise at $9,000,000.

[edit] Trivia

When Hugh Judson Kirlpatrick, the American Minister to Chile, asked the American naval commander Commander Rodgers to defend the port and attack the Spanish fleet, Admiral Méndez Núñez responded with, "I will be forced to sink [the US ships], 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."