Monday 30 August 2021

1/2400th Ships for the Battle of Arica

Huascar (Peruvian and Chilean)

Alianza and Republica

Manco Capac and Alianza

I'm looking into some historical scenarios for the War of the Pacific aside from the battles of Iquique and Angamos which I have already covered, at least in the planning side of things for Iquique. The obvious one that stands out is the naval battle of Arica, which featured the refitted Huascar under the Chilean flag and the Peruvian monitor Manco Capac. There was an ongoing duel between the Chilean corvette Magallanes, the Huascar and the batteries surrounding Arica, interrupted on the 27th February 1880 by a sortie from the Manco Capac accompanied by the torpedo boat Alianza, with the aim of preventing the Huascar from shelling a railway train on the coastal mainline to Arica. 


It all ended badly for the Chileans when the Manco Capac smashed the conning tower of the already damaged Huascar, killing Commander Thomson and felling the foremast, which then jammed the turret from traversing. It would make a pretty good scenario for Dahlgren and Columbiad, including the fort and shore batteries, the Alianza and the corvette Magallanes, which all played an active role or were at least present. Anyway, I've bodged together a couple of Herreshoff torpedo boats, using the 'David' model from Tumbling Dice for the Alainza and Republica, and have assembled and slightly modified the Tumbling Dice Huascar model as refitted by the Chileans. 

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