page_title: ARM Guadaloupe
section_title: Construction of the Guadalupe
hierarchical_section_title: ARM Guadaloupe / Construction of the Guadalupe
caption_attribution_description: English: Sebastopol from the sea - sketched from the deck of H.M.S. Sidon. The men are operating a 68-pounder 88 cwt smoothbore muzzle-loading gun.
context_page_description: The Mexican Navy steam paddle frigate Guadalupe was the flagship of the Mexican Navy from 1842 to 1847. She participated in the Naval Battle of Campeche in 1843. She was one of the first iron hulled warships ever built and the one of the first to see action in a naval battle.
context_section_description: The Guadalupe, probably named after the city of Guadalupe, was built in the Liverpool shipyard of Jonathan Laird of Birkenhead, England in 1842.  Guadalupe was referred to as a steam paddle frigate and had a full brig rig.   Guadalupe was 183 feet in length with a displacement of 878 tons.  She was the biggest iron warship in the world when built.   Due to diplomatic action by the Republic of Texas she was delivered unarmed as a merchant ship with her guns in her hold.   "In May 1842, William Kennedy, Republic of Texas consul general in London, and Ashbel Smith, minister to England, protested the building of the vessels for Mexican use against Texas and urged the English government to detain them.  Lord Aberdeen of the  British Foreign Office decided that arms might be placed on the vessels so long as they were not mounted in English ports, and the Guadaloupe sailed in June despite Republic of Texas protests. Aberdeen insisted that the English would maintain strict neutrality in the struggle between Texas and Mexico and that no English commissioned officer would be allowed to serve in the Mexican nation against Texas."    When she arrived in Mexico she was equipped with two 68-pounder guns that fired explosive shells, two 32-pounder guns and two 24-pounder long guns.  A feature that was unusual for the period was her construction with watertight compartmentation throughout her hull a feature that impressed famous French naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme.   She carried a crew that included many British nationals lead by her captain Edward Phillip Charlwood Commander RN  who started while she was building in 1841 and who remained her captain until 1843.
caption: HMS Sidon 68 pounder pivot gun 1855 LOC 05685u
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