Battle of Caldera Bay
Battle of Caldera Bay | |
---|---|
Part of the Caldera Bay, Chile 27°03′36″S 70°49′39″W / 27.06000°S 70.82750°W | |
Result | Balmacedist victory |
Juan Fuentes
2 transports
1 transport damaged
182 killed
The Battle of Caldera Bay, or the Sinking of Blanco Encalada, was a naval engagement fought in the
After both torpedoes from Almirante Condell had missed, Blanco Encalada was hit by a torpedo from Almirante Lynch and sank in minutes, with the loss of 182 men. The loss of Blanco Encalada hindered the Congressional forces, but they ultimately defeated the Balmacedist forces that August. Blanco Encalada was the first ironclad warship lost to a self-propelled torpedo. The engagement prompted countries to rapidly grow both their torpedo boat and torpedo boat destroyer forces (the latter commonly referred to as destroyers).
Background
In 1891, after a series of struggles about multinational nitrate interests, Chilean President José Manuel Balmaceda refused to sign the national budget passed by the Chilean National Congress. Balmaceda then dissolved Congress.[2] The dissolution split both the Chilean Army and Navy, with some forces remaining loyal to Congress and others to the President. An armed conflict ensued after a mutiny by the navy, which at that time was docked at Valparaíso.[3]
Supporters of those forces loyal to Congress, including members of the dissolved parliament and their backers among multinational nitrate interests, bought weaponry from Europe and the United States. Better equipped than the forces loyal to the President, they rapidly captured Chile's northern provinces, which had recently been conquered from Bolivia and Peru during the War of the Pacific.[4]
Since the Congressionalists controlled all of the current ships in the Chilean Navy, the Balmacedists commandeered vessels that were nearing completion in England and France, including the torpedo boats Almirante Condell and Almirante Lynch.
The two ships arrived at Valparaíso on 21 March. Both ships docked at Quintero Bay on 18 April. While at Quintero, their commanding officers, Commander Carlos E. Moraga of Almirante Condell and Commander Juan Fuentes of Almirante Lynch, were informed of the possibility that Blanco Encalada, a Congressionalist frigate, was going to be in Caldera Bay in five days. The two commanders consulted with one another and sent their proposal to attack Blanco Encalada to the Balmacedist government, which was approved.[3]
Blanco Encalada arrived at
Battle
At 04:00 on 23 April, Almirante Condell set out toward Caldera Bay about 450 mi (720 km)[6] away, with Almirante Lynch 20 yd (18 m) behind her.[6] The armed steamer Imperial traveled with the torpedo boats, taking up a position to the left of both boats. It was to wait some distance off Caldera, in order to escort the ships back home when the attack ended. Both torpedo boats entered Caldera at roughly 3:30.[6] When they were 500 yd (460 m) from Blanco Encalada, both boats came under fire by rapid-fire guns on board the frigate, which only had seven men stationed as guards.[7] About 100 yd (91 m) from Blanco Encalada, Almirante Condell fired her bow torpedo at the Congressional frigate. It missed and landed on the shore, unexploded.[8] Moraga then turned the torpedo boat into the direct fire of the frigate and fired both his starboard torpedoes. The front torpedo hit, but failed to explode, and the rear torpedo passed clear under the frigate.[3]
As all of Blanco Encalada's guns were occupied by Almirante Condell, the crew did not notice Almirante Lynch approaching from the opposite direction of Almirante Condell.[3] From 50 yd (46 m) out, Almirante Lynch fired her bow torpedo, which missed, and then fired her forward starboard torpedo after executing a turning maneuver like Almirante Condell had done. The second torpedo struck Blanco Encalada, creating a hole roughly 7 by 15 ft (2.1 by 4.6 m).[3] The ship sank within minutes, taking 182 men with it. Several of the men who escaped, including Captain Goñi, did so by clinging to animals in Blanco Encalada's cargo hold, including a llama and a cow.[1]
As she was sinking, the torpedo boats fired their
Aftermath and impact on torpedo use
The sinking of Blanco Encalada led to an attack by Almirante Condell and Almirante Lynch on her sister ship,
The battle had a wider impact on naval weapons development because Blanco Encalada was the first ironclad warship sunk by a self-propelled torpedo.[18] News of the attack spread and as a result of the action, navies of several major powers realized the potential of torpedoes as a cheap counter to expensive pre-dreadnoughts,[19] which led to the acceleration of submarine and torpedo boat production, the addition of torpedo nets to ships for use when they were moored in port, and the addition of torpedo tubes to surface ships. During the Russo-Japanese War, over 300 self-propelled torpedoes were fired, in one instance finishing off the already seriously damaged Russian flagship Knyaz Suvorov at the Battle of Tsushima.[20] Torpedo boats also sank two armored cruisers and two destroyers during the course of the war.[21] By the start of World War I, torpedo boats and submarines were in widespread use in many navies.
Notes
- ^ a b c d Branfill-Cook 2014, p. 173.
- ^ Hervey 1892, pp. 101–102.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Chile's Great Naval Battle" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 July 1894. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ^ Espinosa 1891, p. 9.
- ^ Espinosa 1891, p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e Wilson 1897, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Thursfield 1892, p. 138.
- ^ Urruita 1968, p. 444.
- ^ a b Wilson 1897, p. 27.
- ^ Wilson 1897, p. 30.
- ^ Urruita 1968, p. 445.
- ^ Hervey 1892, p. 181.
- ^ Thursfield 1892, p. 147.
- ^ Hervey 1892, p. 198.
- ^ Hervey 1892, p. 213.
- ^ Forbes 1897, p. 251.
- ^ Urruita 1968, p. 454.
- ^ Scheina 1987, p. 64.
- ^ Colomb 1899, p. 434.
- ^ Olender 2010, pp. 235–236.
- ^ Olender 2010, p. 234.
References
- Branfill-Cook, Roger (2014). Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon. Yorkshire: Seaworth Publishing. ISBN 9-781-84832-215-8.
- Colomb, Philip (1899). Naval warfare, its ruling principles and practice historically treated. London: WH Allen and Co. Limited. OCLC 1080177565.
- Espinosa, Julio (1891). The Chilean revolution and the Balmacaceda administration Speech delivered at the House of representatives on the 28th of April, 1891. Gibson Brothers. OCLC 706140925.
- Forbes, Archibald (1897). Battles of the Nineteenth Century. Vol. 2. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. OCLC 2747545.
- Hervey, Maurice (1892). Dark Days in Chile: An Account of the Revolution of 1891. London: Edward Arnold. OCLC 561607408.
- Scheina, Robert L. (1987). Latin America: A Naval History, 1810–1987. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-295-8.
- Olender, Piotr (2010). Russo-Japanese Naval War 1904–1905, Battle of Tsushima. Vol. 2. Sandomierz, Poland: Stratus s.c. ISBN 978-83-61421-02-3.
- Thursfield, J. (1892). "Foreign Naval Maneuvers". Brassey's Annual. 1892.
- Urruita, Carlos (1968). Historia de la Marina de Chile. Chile: Editores Andres Bello. OCLC 577102.
- Wilson, Herbert (1897). Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare from 1855–1895, With Some Account of the Development of the Battleship in England. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co. OCLC 602444411.