History
Acquired by Paraguay
Clover arrived in Paraguay in November 1911 along with Constitución, a former ocean-going freighter converted into gunboat, and the transport General Díaz. The three ships had been bought to suppress an attempt in early 1911 to overthrow President Jara regime, but by that time the uprising was over. She was commissioned in the Paraguayan Navy as gunboat Adolfo Riquelme, named after a politician killed in March 1911 during the revolt against Jara. [1]
Revolution of 1922 and upgrade
She was initially used as a training ship. During the revolution of 1922, however, Adolfo Riquelme was the lead ship of the loyalist flotilla. She shelled the town of Encarnación, on the Paraná River, which had been occupied by the rebels. The gunboat was lightly damaged by return fire on July. In September she shelled Encarnación again, this time to support the landing of 150 soldiers, who engaged the rebels and destroyed a railway section and telegraph lines before falling back to the loyalist beachhead. On 5 September the aviso Coronel Martínez sank a torpedo-carrying canoe that was in the process of attacking Adolfo Riquelme. She supported another landing in Caraguatá, and the next week she shelled the railway system along the Paraná. In the course of the revolution, she endured the attack of two rebel aircraft to no effect. [3]
An upgrade in 1925 included modifications to her bridge and deck. Her funnel was also refitted in 1927. She was renamed Tacuary on 30 July 1930. She was laid up again in May 1931 for repairs to her keel and hastily relaunched on 28 July 1932 due to the beginning of the Chaco War with Bolivia. [1]
Chaco War
Her first trip to the north took place on 5 August 1932 escorting the barges Irene and Bahía Negra, ferrying troops of the 3rd Artillery Group to the battle front. Tacuary arrived back in Asunción on 13 August where pending repairs were finished. She sailed again on 18 August. Tacuary then came under the command of the 3rd Army Division Headquarters at Bahía Negra. [1] Her commander during this deployment was Captain Rodrigo Machuca. [4]
Air defense of Bahía Negra
On 22 December 1932 at 11:00 AM, while at anchor at Bahía Negra ( 20°13′48″S58°10′1″W / 20.23000°S 58.16694°W / -20.23000; -58.16694 ) with her boilers shut down, Tacuary was attacked by two Bolivian CW-14 Osprey fighter bombers and one Curtiss P-6 Hawk that took off from Fortín Vitriones. [1] Some sources claim that the attacking planes were actually three Vickers Vespa. [5] The aircraft launched three bombs, one of which exploded only 20 m away from Tacuary. They regrouped over Brazilian territory for a second airstrike. They strafed and dropped six small bombs. During a third attack, again with six bombs and cannon fire, Tacuary hit one Osprey with a 37mm round. The Osprey split from the package, and trailing black smoke, eventually crashed on Brazilian territory, according to the Paraguayan report. Of the 15 bombs launched, 11 straddled the gunboat. The army commander of the Northern Sector, Colonel José Julian Sánchez, was killed during the attacks by a bomb splinter. Tacuary complement remained unscathed. The two surviving aircraft repeated the attack twice on 24 December, at 8:00 and 17:00 hrs, but were fought off without inflicting any damage on the ship, which this time took evasive manoeuvres. The strafing, however, resulted in several wounded. The raids of 22 and 24 December left 29 splinter holes and 45 bullet holes on Tacuary´s hull. [1] After these attacks, the crew used sheets and tree branches to camouflage the gunboat. [6] Tacuary was relieved from her station at Bahía Negra by the scout Teniente Herreros. She continued with supply missions until the end of the war. As transport ship, Tacuary ferried 6,602 troops, 230 passengers, 480 prisoners, 1,258 animals, and 1,653 t of cargo. [1]
After the War
Tacuary was used as transport ship up to 1938, when she was laid up in order to converting her into a Presidential yacht. The death of President José Félix Estigarribia halted these plans, and the former gunboat became a barge in the Naval Transport Service. From 1949 to 1966, the ship endured a lengthy refit, aimed to convert her in a passenger ship to operate between Asunción and Buenos Aires. In 1952 her old steam propulsion was replaced by two diesel engines. She was relaunched on 30 December 1966. She was in service as a transport ship until 1978. Tacuary was then re-listed as a cargo barge and was eventually stricken from the Paraguayan Navy list on 30 November 1999. [1]
The Armed forces of Paraguay consist of the Paraguayan army, navy and air force.
The Chaco War was fought from 1932 to 1935 between Bolivia and Paraguay, over the control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was thought to be rich in oil. The war is also referred to as La Guerra de la Sed in literary circles since it was fought in the semi-arid Chaco. The bloodiest interstate military conflict fought in South America in the 20th century, it was fought between two of its poorest countries, both of which had lost territory to neighbors in 19th-century wars.
This article describes the composition and actions of the Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War. For a list of naval forces from the United Kingdom, see British naval forces in the Falklands War.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1932:
Rafael de la Cruz Franco Ojeda was a Paraguayan military officer and politician, served as Provisional Pesident of Paraguay from February 17, 1936 to August 13, 1937, being also the historical leader and founder of the National Revolutionary Party.
The Curtiss P-6 Hawk is an American single-engine biplane fighter introduced into service in the late 1920s with the United States Army Air Corps and operated until the late 1930s prior to the outbreak of World War II.
The cinema of Paraguay has historically been small. However, this has begun to change in recent years with films like El Toque del Oboe (1998); María Escobar (2002); O Amigo Dunor (2005), which competed for Best Movie in the Rotterdam International Film Festival; Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, gaining critical acclaim both in Paraguay and abroad; 7 cajas (2012); Latas Vacías (2014); and Luna de Cigarras (2014).
The Colonel Luis Irrazábal Barboza was born in Encarnación, in Itapúa Department, Paraguay, on August 8, 1891 and died on March 16, 1958 in Asunción, capital of Paraguay.
José Alfredo Bozzano Baglietto was a military engineer and senior officer of the Paraguayan Navy who designed the gunboats Paraguay and Humaitá that were used during the Chaco War in the key role of armed transport ships. In the course of the war, he was the manager of the factories which produced weapons, ammunition, trucks and other equipment for the Paraguayan army.
The Macchi M.18 was a flying boat designed by Alessandro Tonini and produced by Macchi in Italy in the early 1920s. Originally planned as a passenger aircraft, it entered production as a bomber before eventually being offered on the civil market that it was originally intended for.
The Chaco War was the first major Latin American conflict in which aircraft were used. This aerial war carried a large human and materiel cost. At that time, Bolivia possessed one of the greatest aerial forces in the region, however this fact didn't prevent its final defeat. Bolivia lacked the expertise to utilise its aerial forces, and was thus unable to maximise its use of military aviation. Paraguay had a small number of pilots and technicians, all veterans of the revolution of 1922. The 1922 revolution was a brief civil war in which the government and the rebels used aircraft in the operations, and José Félix Estigarribia could be considered an innovator in the military use of aircraft on the continent.
The Paraguayan Navy is the maritime force of the Armed Forces of Paraguay, in charge of the defense of Paraguay's waters despite not having direct access to the sea.
The Paraná River is the second longest river in South America. Rising in Brazil, the river winds from the coastal mountains through tributaries and travels near Iguazu Falls 4,800 kilometres (3,000 mi) into Paraguay, Argentina and the Rio de la Plata at Uruguay. The river allowed for transport and exploration of the continent. It also was the scene of some terrible wars, including naval.
This is a bibliography of Paraguay.
The Humaitá-class gunboat was a two-unit class of riverine gunboats designed by Paraguayan naval engineer José Bozzano and built in Genoa, Italy, for the Paraguayan Navy from 1928 to 1931. The warships played a key role as fast armed transports during the Chaco War with Bolivia.
The Battle of Paso de Cuevas was fought on 12 August 1865 during the Paraguayan invasion of the Argentine province of Corrientes.
The Passage of Humaitá was an operation of riverine warfare during the Paraguayan War − the most lethal in South American history − in which a force of six Brazilian Navy armoured vessels was ordered to dash past under the guns of the Paraguayan fortress of Humaitá. Some competent neutral observers had considered that the feat was very nearly impossible.
The Paraguayan Civil War (1922), took place between 27 May 1922 and 10 July 1923, within the borders of Paraguay. It started when supporters of candidate Adolfo Chirife attempted to forcefully restore the implementation of presidential elections canceled by President Eusebio Ayala. Chirife represented the so-called Constitutionalist or Schaererist side ideologically supporting liberal politician Eduardo Schaerer, while troops under Ayala were named Loyalists or Gondrists ideologically pledging allegiance to former President Manuel Gondra. The conflict concluded when Gondrist forces defeated the remnants of the Schaererist army in Asunción.
The steam frigate Amazonas was a frigate-type warship that served in the Imperial Brazilian Navy and, for a short period, in the Brazilian Navy after the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889. The frigate was built in the Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. shipyards in Birkenhead and Liverpool, England; it was launched in August 1851. The purchase of this vessel was part of an effort by the Empire of Brazil to obtain more modern ships, due to the country's lag with some foreign powers. Amazonas was commissioned in 1852.
Paraguay
