List of Peruvian Navy ships

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List of ships of the Peruvian Navy comprising almost every Peruvian warship commissioned after 1840.

Major warships

President Castilla sought to expand and the Peruvian Navy and equip it well. His naval policy was to construct two ships for each one Chile built, and he went on to turn the Peruvian Navy into the most powerful in South America. He acquired the frigates Mercedes, Guisse, Gamarra, Amazonas, and Apurimac and the schooners Tumbes and Loa. He also built the naval ports of Paita and Bellavista. Castilla also acquired the first steam-powered warship of any South American country and named her Rimac. To better educate the officers of these new ships, he sent them to study with the various navies of European nations. For the defense of the Amazon, Castilla began to develop an Amazonian fleet with the purchase of the ships Morona, Pastaza, Napo, and Putumayo.

The paddle-steamer Rimac
The paddle-steamer Ucayali ex-HMS Cherokee in 1848
The screw-frigate Amazonas
Apurímac, anchored in Callao in 1855

Minor warships

  • Almirante Guise (1845) 415-ton sailing brigantine.[1]
  • Gamarra (1845) 415-ton sailing brigantine.
  • Loa (1854) 648 ton BOM screw schooner: 10 kn (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph), armament 4 × 32-pdr. Took part on the rebel side in Peruvian Civil War of 1856–1858. Between April and November 1864, she was converted into an ironclad floating battery similar to he Confederate States Navy′s CSS Richmond.[5] – see under ironclads
  • Tumbes (1854) 250-ton BOM screw schooner: 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) armament 2 × 68-pdr. Took part in Peruvian Civil War of 1856–1858 and the Peruvian Civil War of 1865. Stricken 1866 and used as a pontoon at Callao. Sunk by the Chilean Navy 29 May 1880.[6]

Transport vessels

  • Lautaro (1853) screw steamer, ex-Peytona, 480 tons. Purchased in 1857, named Lambayaque and renamed General Lerzundi. Sold to the Chilean Navy 1865 and renamed Lautaro..

Gunboats

  • Morona (1862), 500-ton steam river gunboat – part of the Amazonian fleet that arrived at Iquitos in 1864
  • Pastaza (1862), 500-ton steam river gunboat – part of the Amazonian fleet that arrived at Iquitos in 1864
  • Napo (1862), steam river gunboat – part of the Amazonian fleet that arrived at Iquitos in 1864
  • Putumayo (1862), steam river gunboat – part of the Amazonian fleet that arrived at Iquitos in 1864

Vessels acquired from 1860 to 1884

BAP Huascar

Ironclads

Coast defence ironclads

The Loa being fitted after its conversion in the Callao harbour, 1864
  • Loa (1854) 648 ton BOM steam schooner that took part on the rebel side in 1856–58 Peruvian civil war. From April to November 1864, Loa was converted into an ironclad similar to the CSS Richmond. The conversion was by George S. Backus, and cost 364,823 soles de plata, equivalent to £70,000 Sterling. In 1877 the armour was removed and the Loa became a training ship. She was scuttled at Callao in January 1881 to prevent capture.[8]
  • Victoria (1866) a locally-built small monitor armed with a single 68-pdr Vavasseur smoothbore gun.[9]

ex-US Canonicus-class monitors 2,100 tons.[4]

  • Atahualpa (1864). ex-USS Catawba; Atahualpa and Manco Cápac were purchased by Peru in 1868 for $400,000 US, and left New Orleans in January 1869, arriving in Peru in June 1870. Atahualpa was scuttled at Callao to avoid capture 1881.[10][4]
  • Manco Cápac (1864) ex-USS Oneota purchased by Peru in 1868, and arriving with Atahualpa in June 1870, scuttled at Arica to avoid capture 1880. Wreck was located in 2007, 2.5 miles off shore at depth of 100 feet.[11]

Steam corvettes

The corvette America wrecked by the 1868 tsunami at Arica
  • Unión (1864) ex-CSS Georgia, screw corvette 2017 tons [1,150 tons BOM].[12] Sold to Peru after the French government stopped to sale to the Confederacy. Scuttled January 1881 to avoid capture.[13][4]
  • America (1864) ex-CSS Texas, screw corvette and sister-ship of BAP Union. Sold to Peru after the French government stopped to sale to the Confederacy. Lost during the Arica tsunami on 13 August 1868.
  • Pilcomayo (1874) gun vessel 600 tons BOM.[12][14]
  • Chanchamayo (1874) gun vessel 600 tons BOM. shipwrecked in Falsa Punta Aguja in the north of Peru, 1876.

Cruisers

Lima class cruisers, 1,700 tons.[4]

  • Lima (1880), build in Kiel as a merchant ship Socrates to mislead the Chileans. Converted in an armoured gunboat in England and but embargoed by the Government of Great Britain in 1881, alleging the principle of neutrality. Arrived to Peru 1889. Refitted in Panama and rearmed 1920 as cruiser, then used as a submarine base ship, discarded 1935.[4]
  • Diogenes (1881), build in Kiel as a merchant ship to mislead the Chileans, but embargoed by the Government of Great Britain in 1881, alleging the principle of neutrality. She was never armed or delivered to Peru (and hence kept its original merchant ship name), purchased by Japan 1895, but not delivered, acquired by US Navy in 1898 and renamed USS Topeka.[4]

Torpedo boats

Republica class Herreshoff spar torpedo boats.[4]

  • Republica (No. 1) (1881) blown up by her crew to avoid falling into enemy hands on January 3, 1881.[4]
  • Alianza (No. 2) (1880) blown up by her crew to avoid falling into enemy hands on June 8, 1880.
  • Allay (No. 3) captured by Chile in December 1879 on her delivery voyage to Callao and renamed Guacolda.[4]
  • No. 4, never completed.[4]

Submarines

Gunboats

  • Iquitos (1875) Converted merchant vessel, 50 tons. Rebuilt 1896, stricken 1967.[16]
  • Santa Rosa (1883) 420 tons, 2 × 6 in guns. Still in service 1905.[17][18]
  • Coronel Portillo (1???) ex-San Pablo. Converted merchant vessel, 49 tons. <---It has been assumed that this vessel was of similar date to Iquitos because it looks similar in the photos in Janes--->[16] (Conways' 1947-95 says launched 1902, extant 1947)

Yavari and Yapura cargo-passenger gunboats, 500 GRT.[19] Both vessels were built in parts in England in 1862 and assembled in Puno on Lake Titicaca.[20]

  • Yavari (1861) Commissioned 1871. Lengthened by 12m in the 19th century. Converted to diesel engine 1914. Paid off 1990 after 119 years service.[19] Now open as a museum moored near the Sonesta Posada Hotel del Inca.[20][21]
  • Yapura (1861) Commissioned 1873. Probably converted to diesel in 1914.[20] Still in service in 2012 under the name BAP Puno (ABH-306) as a hospital ship stationed on Lake Titicaca.[19][21]

Transport vessels

  • Talismán (1876) transport steamer 1,310 tons BOM.[12]
  • Chalaco (1864) transport steamer 1,000 tons BOM, armed with two 40-pr and machineguns.[12]
  • Limeña (1865) paddle transport 1,163 tons BOM, armed with two 40-pr and machineguns.[12]
  • BAP Oroya (1873) paddle transport 1,597 tons BOM.[12]
  • Rímac (1872) transport steamer 1,805 tons captured to the Chilean Navy in 1879.

Vessels acquired from 1900 onwards

Footnotes

Sources

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