The Battle of Callao occurred on May 2, 1866, between a Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Callao during the Chincha Islands War. The Spanish fleet bombarded the port of Callao, and eventually withdrew without any notable damage to the city structures, according to the Peruvian and American sources; or after having silenced almost all the guns of the coastal defenses, according to the Spanish accounts and French observers. This proved to be the final battle of the war between Spanish and Peruvian forces.
The Chincha Islands War, also known as Spanish–South American War, was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia from 1865 to 1879. The conflict began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands in one of a series of attempts by Spain, under Isabella II, to reassert its influence over its former South American colonies. The war saw the use of ironclads, including the Spanish ship Numancia, the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world.
USS Nyack was a wooden-hulled screw gunboat of the United States Navy that saw action in the American Civil War. After the Civil war, she was transferred to the Pacific where she patrolled the west coast of South America until she was decommissioned in 1871. She was sold and broken up in 1883.
USS Oneota was a single-turreted Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Completed shortly after the end of the war, Oneota was laid up until sold to her builders in 1868, and then resold to the Peruvian Navy. Renamed BAP Manco Cápac, the ship participated in the defense of Arica during the War of the Pacific. When the town was taken by Chilean troops in 1880, she was scuttled to prevent her capture. Her wreck was rediscovered in 1960 and it has been heavily looted.
USS Catawba was a single-turreted Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Completed shortly after the end of the war, Catawba was laid up until sold to her builders in 1868, and then resold to the Peruvian Navy. Renamed BAP Atahualpa, the ship participated in the defense of main port of Peru, Callao, during the War of the Pacific. When the city of Lima was taken by Chilean troops in 1881, she was scuttled to prevent her capture. Atahualpa was later refloated and used as a storage hulk until scrapped in the early 20th century.
Toro Submarino was a Peruvian submarine developed during the War of the Pacific in 1879. It is considered the first operational submarine or submersible in Latin America. Being fully operational, waiting for its opportunity to attack during the Blockade of Callao, it was scuttled to avoid its capture by Chilean troops on January 17, 1881, before the imminent occupation of Lima.
The schooner Virgen de Covadonga, was a schooner built in Spain and launched in 1859. During the Spanish-South American War (1863-1866), it was captured by Chilean forces at the end of the Papudo naval action and incorporated into the Chilean Navy. After being assigned to exploration missions, she was later assigned to the Chilean squadron that participated in the Pacific War (1879-1883). In the Battle of Punta Gruesa she defeated the Ironclad Independencia.
The Bombardment of Valparaíso on 31 March 1866 took place during the Chincha Islands War, when a Spanish fleet shelled, burned and destroyed the undefended port of Valparaíso.
The first USS Wateree was a sidewheel gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
The Canonicus-class was a class of nine monitors built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. An improvement on the preceding Passaics, modified in accordance with war experience, each vessel mounted two 15-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren guns. The five ships commissioned during the war participated variously in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher. When attacking the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee in 1865, the monitor Tecumseh was sunk by a naval mine, then termed a "torpedo". 94 died. Eight of the suspected conspirators for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln were incarcerated aboard Saugus and the monitor Montauk before they were transferred to the Arsenal Penitentiary. The remaining four ships not commissioned during the war were built on the Ohio River, three at Cincinnati, and Ajax as far up as South Pittsburgh. Of these, Catawba and Oneota, renamed Atahualpa and Manco Cápac respectively, were sold to the Peruvian Navy and participated in the War of the Pacific, both being scuttled to prevent their capture by the Chilean Navy. The last remaining member of the class, the lead ship Canonicus, was an exhibit during the Jamestown Exposition, before being sold to the broken up in 1908.
USS Underwriter was a 341-ton sidewheel steamer that was purchased for military use by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
BAP Apurímac was the second steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy, built in England in 1855 along with the steam schooners Loa and Tumbes as a part of a major build-up of the Navy during the government of President José Rufino Echenique. A veteran of two wars and many internal conflicts, due to her age, she served as training ship in Callao port from 1873 until January 17, 1881, when she was scuttled along with the rest of the Peruvian Navy to prevent capture by Chilean troops who had occupied the port after the defeat of the Peruvian Army in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores.
On 6 March 1866, during the Chincha Islands War, the Spanish steam frigate Blanca captured the Chilean sidewheel steamer Paquete de Maule in the Gulf of Arauco.
The Spanish ironclad Méndez Núñez was a wooden-hulled armored corvette converted from the 38-gun, steam-powered frigate Resolución during the 1860s after the ship was badly damaged during the Chincha Islands War of 1864–1866. She was captured by rebels during the Cantonal Revolution in 1873 and participated in the Battle off Cartagena before she was returned to government control after Cartagena surrendered in early 1874. The ship was stricken from the Navy List in 1886 and broken up ten years later.
The corvette Abtao was a wooden ship built in Scotland during 1864 of 1.600 tons and 800 IHP. She fought in the War of the Pacific and was in service for the Chilean Navy until 1922.
BAP Victoria was an ironclad monitor built for the Peruvian Navy in the mid-1860s. The ship participated in the Battle of Callao in 1866 during the Chincha Islands War of 1864–66 and was not damaged. Her ultimate fate is unknown.
The introduction of fast torpedo boats in the late 19th century was a serious concern to navies of an era that saw a number of innovations in naval warfare, including the first torpedo boats, which carried spar torpedoes, steam propulsion and steel ships.
Events in the year 1866 in Chile.
Villa de Madrid, devotional name Nuestra Señora de Atocha, was a screw frigate of the Spanish Navy commissioned in 1863. She took part in several actions during the Chincha Islands War in 1866. She served on the rebel side during the Glorious Revolution of 1868, and her crew supported the cantonalist government of the Canton of Cartagena during the Cantonal rebellion of 1873–1874. She was decommissioned in either 1882 or 1884 and scrapped in 1884.
Chile
Spain