page_title: Huáscar (ironclad)
section_title: War of the Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: Huáscar (ironclad) / Career in Peruvian Navy / War of the Pacific
context_page_description: Huáscar is an ironclad turret ship built in Britain for Peru in the 1860s. Her price was a bit more than £81,000. She was the flagship of the Peruvian Navy and participated in the Battle of Pacocha and the War of the Pacific of 1879–1883 before being captured and commissioned into the Chilean Navy. Today she is one of the few surviving ships of her type. The ship has been restored and is currently commissioned as a memorial ship. She is named after the 16th-century Inca emperor, Huáscar.
context_section_description: Huáscar participated in the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), initially in the service of Peru. Once again under the command of Captain Grau, she became famous for daring harassment raids on Chilean ports and transports. As a result, during the opening months of the war, the ground invasion was delayed for almost six months until the Chilean fleet could find and stop Huáscar.
  On 21 May 1879 Huáscar led the lifting of the Chilean blockade of Iquique. During the Battle of Iquique, the Chilean captain of the corvette Esmeralda, Arturo Prat, was killed on Huáscar's deck. After sinking the corvette by repeated ramming, Huáscar rescued the survivors, then continued pursuit of a fleeing enemy ship, the Covandonga.
  During the next 137 days Huáscar not only evaded confrontation with the enemy fleet, following orders from the Peruvian government, but made the coast insecure for Chilean transport ships. Her biggest prize was the Chilean transport Rímac with 260 men of the cavalry regiment "Carabineers of Yungay".
  Determined to secure the supply lines needed for the invasion of Perú, the Chileans committed every possible unit to hunt down Huáscar. On 8 October 1879 Huáscar was captured by the Chilean Navy at the Battle of Angamos, during which Rear Admiral Grau and 32 of her crew of 200  were killed.
caption: The Battle of Angamos
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