Battle of the Riachuelo
The Battle of the Riachuelo was a large and decisive naval battle of the Paraguayan War between Paraguay and the Empire of Brazil. By late 1864, Paraguay had scored a series of victories in the war, but on June 11, 1865, its naval defeat by the Brazilians on the Paraná River began to turn the tide in favor of the allies. This was the largest naval battle fought between two South American countries. Plan. Paraguay's fleet was a fraction of the size of Brazil's, even before the battle, and arrived at the Fortress of  Humaitá on the morning of June 9. The Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López prepared to attack the ships supporting allied land troops at Riachuelo. Nine ships and seven cannon-carrying barges, totaling 44 guns, as well as 22 guns and two Congreve rocket batteries from river bank located troops, attacked the Brazilian squadron, nine ships with a total of 68 guns. The Paraguayans had planned a surprise attack before sunrise since they were fully aware that most Brazilian troops would offboard their steamers to sleep on land, and they would leave only a small garrison of men to guard and  watch their fleet. The original plan had been that under the dark of the night, the Paraguayan steamers would sneak up to the docked Brazilian vessels and board them outright. No confrontation other than the one carried out by the boarding party had been planned, and the Paraguayan steamers were there only to provide cover from the inland battling forces. Battle. The Paraguayan fleet left the fortress of Humaitá on the night of June 10, 1865 and headed to the port of Corrientes. López had given specific orders to approach the docked Brazilian steamers stealthily before sunrise and to board  them. That would leave the Brazilian ground forces bereft of their navy early on in the war. López sent nine steamers: "Tacuarí", "Ygureí", "Marqués de Olinda", "Paraguarí", "Salto Guairá", "Rio Apa", "Yporá", "Pirabebé", and "Yberá"; under the command of Captain Meza, who was aboard the "Tacuarí". However, some two leagues after leaving Humaitá, it reached a point known as Nuatá-pytá, where the engine of the "Yberá" broke down. After hours were lost in an attempt to fix it, a decision was made to continue with only the eight remaining steamers. The fleet arrived at Corrientes after sunrise, but because  of a dense fog, the plan was still executable since most, if not all, Brazilian forces were still on land. However, not following López's orders, Meza decided that instead of approaching and boarding the docked steamers, the fleet was to continue down the river and fire at the camp and docked vessels as they passed by. The Paraguayans opened fire at 9:25 am. The Paraguayans passed in a line parallel to the Brazilian fleet and continued downstream. Ordered by Meza, the entire fleet opened fire on the docked Brazilian steamers. The land troops, realizing that they were under attack , hastily boarded their own ships and began to return fire. One of the Paraguayan steamers was hit in the boiler, and one of the "chatas" (barges) was damaged as well. Once out of range, they turned upstream and anchored the barges, which formed a line in a very narrow part of the river. That was intended to trap the Brazilian fleet. Admiral Barroso noticed the Paraguayan tactic and turned down the stream to go after the Paraguayans, but they started to fire from the shore into the lead ship, "Belmonte". The second ship in the line, "Jequitinhonha", mistakenly turned upstream  and was followed by the whole fleet. That leaving "Belmonte" alone to receive the full firepower of the Paraguayan fleet, which soon put it out of action. "Jequitinhonha" ran aground after and so became an easy prey for the Paraguayans. Admiral Barroso, on board the steam frigate "Amazonas", tried to avoid chaos and to reorganize the Brazilian fleet and so he decided to lead the fleet downstream again and to fight the Paraguayans to prevent their escape, rather than to save "Amazonas". Four steamers ("Beberibe", "Iguatemi", "Mearim", and "Araguari") followed "Amazonas". Meza left his position and attacked the Brazilian line , which sent three ships after "Araguari". "Parnaíba" remained near "Jequitinhonha", and he was also attacked by three ships that were trying to board it. The Brazilian line was effectively cut into two. In "Parnaíba", a ferocious battle took place when "Marquez de Olinda" joined the attackers. Barroso, now heading upstream, decided to turn the tide of the battle with a desperate measure. The first ship to face "Amazonas" was the "Paraguarí" which was rammed and put out of action. Then, he rammed "Marquez de Olinda" and "Salto", and sank a "chata". "Paraguari" was already out of action and so the  Paraguayans tried to disengage. "Beberibe" and "Araguari" pursued the Paraguayans and heavily damaged "Tacuary" and "Pirabebé", but nightfall prevented the sinking of those ships. "Jequitinhonha" had to be put afire by "Paraguari" and "Marquez de Olinda". In the end, the Paraguayans lost four steamers and all of their "chatas", but the Brazilians lost only the "Jequitinhonha", coincidentally the ship responsible for the confusion. Aftermath. After the battle, the eight remaining Brazilian steamers sailed down river. President López ordered Major José Maria Brúguez with his batteries to quickly move inland to the south to wait for and attack the passing Brazilian  fleet. The fleet then had to run the gauntlet. On August 12, Brúguez attacked the fleet from the high cliffs at Cuevas. Each Brazilian ship was hit, and 21 men were killed. The "Paraguarí", which had been rammed by the "Amazonas", was set ablaze by the Brazilians, but the ship had a metal hull. A few months later, López ordered the "Yporá" to retrieve the hull, tow it to the Jejui River and sink it there. Also, under orders from López, one month after the battle, the "Yporá" returned to the scene and, again under the cover of night and  using stealth to avoid alarming another Brazilian steamer nearby, boarded the remains of the "Jequitinhonha" and stole one of its cannons. Meza was wounded by a gunshot to the chest on June 11 during the battle. He left the battle alive but would die eight days later from the wound at the Humaitá hospital. López, upon learning of Meza's death, said, "Si no hubiera muerto con una bala, debia morir con cuatro" ("Had he not died from one gunshot, he would have to die from four"). He gave orders for no officers to attend Meza's funeral. Manuel Trujillo , one of the Paraguayan soldiers who took part in the battle, recalled, "When we sailed down river on full steam, passing all the Brazilian steamers on the morning of the eleventh, we were all shocked since we knew that all we had to do was approach the steamers and go 'all aboard!'" He also recalled that during the battle, the land troops who had been taken on the steamers to board the Brazilian fleet, shouted, "Let's approach the steamers! We came in order to board them and not to be killed on deck!" Barroso had turned the tables by  creatively ramming the enemy ships. The Brazilian Navy had won a decisive battle. General Robles had effectively been stopped in Rio Santa Lúcia. The threat to Argentina had been neutralized.