Battle of Callao

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Battle of Callao
Part of the Chincha Islands War
Spanish ships exchange fire with Peruvian coastal defenses at the Battle of Callao .
Date May 2, 1866 Location Callao Result Decisive Peruvian victory, the Spanish Fleet retreated from South America
Belligerents
Spain	Peru
Commanders
Casto Méndez Núñez	Mariano Ignacio Prado
Strength
1 ironclad 5 frigates 1 corvette (approx 250 guns)	2 small ironclads 3 gunboats 65 guns (including naval artillery) 3,000 infantry and cavalry
Casualties and losses
43 dead 147 wounded 3 heavily damaged frigates.	83 dead 100 wounded

Chincha Islands War Papudo – Valparaíso – Abtao – Callao

The Battle of Callao (in Spanish, sometimes called el Combate del Dos de Mayo in South America, or Guerra del Pacífico in Spain) occurred on May 2, 1866 between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and a combined alliance of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador in the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War. The Spanish fleet bombarded the port of Callao (or El Callao), but eventually withdrew without any major damage to the city structures.

Contents 1 Background 2 Battle 3 Aftermath 4 References

[edit] Background

President Juan Antonio Pezet assumed the presidency of Peru in April 1863, at a time when Spain was making efforts to recover some prestige by recovering (or humiliating) its lost colonies in America. Spain began its campaign by seizing the Chincha Islands, which were rich in guano, and demanding indemnity as recompense for the murder of two Spanish citizens in Lambayeque.

Vacillating, President Pezet began removing vast quantities of Peru's guano deposits to give to Spain when Spanish ships threatened Callao and the neighboring coastline. Pezet believed that Peru’s naval forces were much too weak to challenge the Spanish fleet. In November 1865, at a moment of nationalism, Colonel Mariano Ignacio Prado seized power from Pezet after a coup, and organized an effective defense against Spanish aggression that culminated with the Battle of Callao.

After the indecisive Battle of Abtao in February 1866, Méndez Núñez decided to take punitive action against South American ports, his first target being the undefended Chilean port of Valparaíso. The neutral British and American naval commanders in Chilean waters were unable to prevent this action, and the Spanish bombarded the town and destroyed the Chilean merchant fleet. When Hugh Judson Kirlpatrick, United States minister to Chile, asked the American naval commander Commodore John Rodgers to attack the Spanish fleet, Méndez Núñez responded with, "I will be forced to sink the [United States] 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."^[1]

Méndez Núñez proceeded to seek such an honor for Spain by attacking a strong port, and changed his plans and went with his fleet towards the well-defended Peruvian port of Callao. The battle, starting in May 2, was characterized by arduous, long-range combat with ironclads utilized by both sides. Observing the combat were American and British ships.

[edit] Battle

The Spaniards arrived at Callao, on April 25, with 14 ships incorporated with nearly 250 guns of different caliber. The Spanish ships included the ironclad Numancia and the steam frigates Reina Blanca, Resolución, Berenguela, Villa de Madrid, Almansa and the corvette Vencedora. A V-Shaped formation characterized the Spanish fleet, with the smaller ships on the back. Essentially, this was the most formidable fleet that had assembled up to that point in the waters of the American Pacific Ocean.^[2]

Prior to the battle, Peruvian president Mariano Ignacio Prado rallied and mobilized the military and the townspeople against Spain. The strong forts and batteries of the stronghold at Callao, which had once repelled Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins, was reinforced with heavy British-made Blakely guns. Moreover, four Armstrong guns were placed in two armoured turrets, "Junín" and "La Merced", both protected with a 10 cm thick iron belt. The Armstrong and the Blakely guns were the most potent cannons of the time, and they were a national pride for Peru.^[3] In total, the Peruvians had 52 guns and 13 additional guns mounted on the warships Colon, Tumbes, and Sachaca. Also, Peru had two locally-built ironclads: The Confederate-style casemated ram ironclad Loa and the monitor Victoria, as well as several infantry and cavalry.^[4]

The Spanish fleet, forming a V-shaped line of attack, enter into the bay at 10:00 hours, and formed two lines of battle: In the north, the ironclad Numancia and the frigates Almansa y Resolución (137 guns in total), while the frigates Villa de Madrid, Berenguela and Reina Blanca (122 guns in total) moved south. The rest of the fleet, including the corvette Vencedora, remained back near the island of San Lorenzo. The Numancia, one of the largest ships to have ever existed, went forward in order to begin the attack.^[5]

At 12:15 hours, the ironclad Numancia opened fire to the port. The Peruvian fort Santa Rosa bombarded back and ten minutes later, a Peruvian shot hit the Numancia silencing the fire of the entire broadside battery. While the ship tried to turn and use the other broadside, another shot impacted the ship injuring the Spanish Admiral Méndez Nuñez. The fire in both sides stopped for fifteen minutes, and when restarted, a Peruvian Blackely gun was silenced.

Meanwhile, by this time under heavy fire from both sides, a Spanish shot impacted the armored turret La Merced, killing all the crew, including Peruvian Secretary of Defense José Gálvez. According to some accounts, José Gálvez showed valor and strength, and was key in raising the spirits of the Peruvian side. Shortly after his death, the battle became more intense, and the Numancia, center of Peruvian fire, was impacted several more times. ^[6] Suddenly, the Spanish Villa de Madrid was hit by a Blackely 450-pound projectile which killed 35 crewman and destroyed her boilers. The ship was then towed out of the battled by the corvette Vencedora. Also, the frigate Almansa was hit by another shot, resulting in the deaths of 13 crewman and causing the explosion of the powder room, thus forcing her to retreat. Then, Berenguela was pierced side-by-side by an Armstrong 300-pound projectile in the floating line, and hence was also forced to retreat.

During the course of the battle, the small Peruvian fleet under Lizardo Montero approximated itself towards the enemy a couple of times. The artillery from the Peruvian steamer Tumbes marked the final shots of the battle, as the Spaniards began to see the futility of continuing the encounter.^[7] The ship lost 2 men and had 3 wounded during the course of the battle.^[1]

Finally, by 5.00 p.m. the battle was finished. The Spanish fleet, unable to completely destroy the Peruvian batteries, withdrew to San Lorenzo Island to bury their dead and repair the damaged ships. Admiral Méndez Núñez was injured nine times in battle, but did not die from the wounds. Interestingly, the Sub-lieutenant Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, later admiral and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Navy in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, participated in this battle in the frigate Almansa.

[edit] Aftermath

In the aftermath, the Peruvians celebrated the battle as a victory, claiming that they had stopped the Spanish from trying to re-colonize South America.^[8] Whether that was a fact or an exaggerated idea is not really known, for even though the attack might have simply been a way for Spain to regain some prestige (or humiliate South America), the Spanish invasion of the Chincha Islands and attempts to meddle with other South American countries seem to show a Spanish intention of regaining South America.

On the other hand, since Spain had not yet recognized Peru as an independent nation, the Spanish claimed the battle as a Spanish victory since the intention was to punish Peru, not invade it. Nonetheless, in a private letter dated on May 3, 1866; an American eyewitness, T.H. Nelson, wrote: "The damages caused to Callao are barely noticeable. The [Peruvian] batteries occupied the [Spanish] squad so much that there was no time to bombard the city." In fact, after the battle, the hyped up and surprising situation was so big that American and British troops wittnessing the battle joined the cheers of "Viva Peru!"

A couple of months later, the famed ships of the War of the Pacific, Huascar and Independencia, were added to the Peruvian fleet. While the war still remained without a peace settlement, the Peruvians contemplated the idea of invading the Philippines. To complete such a feat, the nation hired Comodore William Tucker, whom had outshone himself in the American Civil War fighting for the Confederate States of America. Nonetheless, various Peruvian officers felt insulted at such a decision since they felt that they had shown they were just as capable as any other officers to lead and win a naval battle. At the end, the idea was abandoned, but Tucker found another important job in the Amazon of Peru.^[9]

The most concrete results, partly coming from this battle, came as a revolution in Spain (in 1868) and an official armistice between the rivaling nations in Washington D.C. in 1871. Which later concreted in Spain's official recognition of Peru as an independent nation in 1880, and hence sealing Latin American independence from Spain. From the battle, the nations of the area realized that a united South America was capable to resist any major invasion attempts by European countries (hence showing a complete opposite to the idea expressed by the Monroe Doctrine, and later the Roosevelt Corollary, which induced a reasoning that free nations in the western hemisphere--including South American nations--were incapable of protecting themselves without U.S. aid and intervention).

[edit] References