BAP Apurimac

The Apurímac was the second steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy, built in England in 1855 along with the steamers Loa and Tumbes as a part of a major built-up of the Navy during the government of President José Rufino Echenique. Veteran of two wars and many internal conflicts, from 1873 due her age it served as training ship in Callao port until January 17, 1881, when she was scuttled along with the rest of the Peruvian Navy to prevent being capture by the Chilean troops who occupied the port after the defeat of the Peruvian Army in the battle of San Juan and Miraflores.

Construction
In 1852, Peru had one of the most powerful navies in the continent. It had two steam warships: the paddle steamer Rímac and the screw frigate Amazonas, and was surpassed only by Brazil and the United States of America, but inferior to the fleets that France and England had in the Pacific, which had also recently been reinforced with steam warships. In order to prevent a European intervention (the Royal Navy had several encounters with the Peruvian Navy in 1830 and 1844), a commission was sent to England to order three more steam warships: a screw frigate and two schooners. Therefore, the Apurímac was ordered in August, 1852 and build in the Richard & Harvey Green Shipyard in London, under the supervision of the Chilean Captain Jose Maria Salcedo, who served in the Peruvian Navy. The ship was commissioned in August, 1855 and arrived at the port of Callao on November 12, 1855.

Peruvian Civil War of 1856-58
On November 16, 1856 the frigate, anchored in Arica, was taken by two young officers in favor of Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco, these were the Second Lieutenant Lizardo Montero and Lieutenant Miguel Grau, who took the opportunity to seize the ship when her commander, Captain José María Salcedo; was on shore visiting the house of the local British Consul. The first act of the rebel ship was the release of the political prisoners taken by the President Ramon Castilla in the hulks Caupolicán and Highlander in Arica.

Then the Apurímac sailed north and stirred up an insurrection on the schooner Loa, sent by the government to intercept the rebel ship. By this point President Castilla had declared that the rebel ships were pirate ships and set a reward of 200 thousand pesos for her capture. Therefore, the government sent a fleet composed of the steamers Tumbes and Izcuchaca, under the command of Captain Ignacio Mariátegui to capture the rebel's ships, but on November 17 the Tumbes defected to the rebels, leaving the government with only the steamer Ucayali as the sole significant warship of the Peruvian Navy, because the steam frigate Amazonas was en route to Hong Kong for repairs.

On November 27, the Apurímac and Tumbes raided and then left the port of Arica after the refusal of the garrison to resupply the rebel ships. A few days later, on December 28, the fleet captured the Chincha Islands and the steamer Izcuchaca. By the end of the year, the original reward for her capture was raised to 500 thousand pesos.

A few days later, the Apurimac along with the schooners Loa and Tumbes, began the blockade of Callao port on December 31, which was defended only by the Ucayali and the old colonial fortress of Real Felipe. After January 4 the blockade was sustained only by the frigate, which tried to capture the Ucayali on January 28, but the ship was well defended by the commander Mariátegui and the guns on land. Finally, the frigate left the port by March 30 to resupply in Pisco.

The ship returned on April 30, carrying Vivanco and his army on board with the help of the steamer Huaras, disembarking all the troops the next day in the mouth of the Rimac river with the intention of capturing the port by surprise, but the assault was a complete failure and Vivanco with his remaining troops left Callao on April 26 to meet the rest of the rebel fleet in the Chincha Islands.

But the Peruvian government took new measures to recover the control of the sea, and on May 21 they signed an accord with the representatives of Great Britain and France to allow their ships to protect the guano production and their economical interests. At the same time President Castilla offered an unconditional pardon to the rebellious sailors. Knowing this, along with the fact that the Apurimac could be defeated by the French and British steam frigates, the rebel officers decided to surrender the fleet, which left the Chincha islands on May 22, and arrived at Callao two days later where it was seized by the government.

War with Ecuador of 1857-60
Renamed Callao by President Castilla on April 28, 1858, the frigate participated in the blockade of Guayaquil under the command of the Admiral Ignacio Mariátegui as flagship of the Peruvian Navy. The blockade started on November 4, 1858; and lasted for a year until the assault and capturing of the port in November, 1860.

After the campaign, the frigate was laid up in a floating dock near the San Lorenzo island, but on December 17, 1860 the ship sank along with the dock. On board the ship was her commander, Captain Silva Rodríguez and the entire crew, including cooks, musicians and visitors from Callao. The ship rolled to port, killing 100 people, including crewman and dock operators, and leaving 88 wounded.

Raising and reconstruction
In order to recover the ship the Plenipotentiary Minister of Perú in the United States, Federico Barreda, contracted the brothers Renton and Addison Crosby in Brooklyn for 100 thousand pesos to perform the difficult task. The ship was almost raised on September 11, 1863, but the lack of hoses to extract the water of the hull prevented the wreck from being completely raised, and she sank again. The ship was finally raised and beached in the San Lorenzo island on April 16, 1863 and was renamed Apurimac again.

After three years submerged, the ship received extensive repairs between 1863 and 1864, which included the addition of rail armor in the floating line and the hull was protected with chains; but these modifications reduced the speed of the frigate to 7 kn with steam, and affected her maneuverability. The start of the Civil War of 1865 caught the Apurímac without masts, nevertheless the frigate participated in the bombardment of Arica that same year.

The Chincha Islands War and the Naval Battle of Abtao
Immediately after the declaration of war against Spain, the Apurimac (still unmasted), along with the steam frigate Amazonas, was sent to Chile under the command of Captain Lizardo Montero to join the Chilean schooner Covadonga in the Chiloé Archipelago, in order to await the arrival of two new steam corvettes of the Peruvian Navy, the Unión and America. During the voyage the Amazonas was lost near Punta Quilque, and the Apurímac suffered from engine problems, but the fleet finally reunited on February 4, 1866 in Chayalhue naval post, recently established on the island of Abtao and was put under command of the Peruvian Captain Manuel Villar.

On February 7, the Spanish steam frigates Reina Blanca and Villa de Madrid appeared off the inlet of Abtao. The allied fleet, aware of the enemy presence, formed a line of battle in the opposite inlet, covering the three entrances to the naval post. The Spanish frigates slowly entered the cove but the Apurimac started the battle by opening fire at 1500 meters, being followed by the rest of the allied fleet .

The Spanish ships returned fire, but the accurate gunnery of the allied ships forced them to seek cover behind Abtao island, and continue the battle with elevation shots. Finally, the Spaniards slowly retreated after two hours of battle and 1500 shots from both sides. The Apurimac received moderate damage, with three impacts in her floating line and minor damage on the main deck. The ship remained in Chile until the end of the war.

Later years: War of the Pacific
After her arrival at Callao, the ship received general repairs and was finally masted, serving until 1873 when her boilers and engine became unusable and were removed, then the frigate was recommissioned as a training vessel. In 1877, the rail and chain armor installed in 1865 was removed during a major repair, allowing the recover of her original stability.

The frigate continued serving in that role until the start of the War of the Pacific, when the Apurimac remained in Callao harbor as a hulk during the first part of the war. Later she escaped damage from the continuous attacks of the Chilean Navy during the blockade of Callao between 1880 and 1881, but after the defeat of the Peruvian Army in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores, the Secretary of the Navy, Captain Manuel Villar, ordered during the night of January 16, 1881 the destruction of the port defenses and the remaining ships of the Peruvian Navy , including the frigate Apurimac, to prevent their capture by the Chilean troops. The order was executed by the captains Germán Astete and Manuel Villavisencio during the dawn of January 17, 1881.