Schooner Virjen de Covadonga
Covadonga at berth in Valparaiso, Chile
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| History | |
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 Spain
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| Name: | Virgen de Covadonga |
| Ordered: | June 10, 1857 |
| Builder: | Arsenal de la Carrara shipyard (Cádiz, Spain) |
| Cost: | 5,000,000 Reales de Vellón |
| Laid down: | 13 February 1858 |
| Launched: | 28 November 1859 |
| Commissioned: | 8 October 1859 |
| Captured: | Battle of Papudo, 26 November 1865 |
| Fate: | Captured by Chilean Navy during the Chincha Islands War |
 Chile
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| Name: | Covadonga |
| Acquired: | 26 November 1865 |
| Commissioned: | 4 December 1865 |
| Fate: | Sunk by a mine in Chancay, Peru during the War of the Pacific, 13 September 1880 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Screw-propelled schooner |
| Tons burthen: | 630 tons |
| Length: | 107 ft (33 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Brigantine sail rigging |
| Speed: | 7 kn (13 km/h) on steam |
| Complement: | 110 crewman |
| Armament: |
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| Notes: | (*) Installed after 21 May 1879 |
The schooner Virgen de Covadonga was a ship that participated in the Chincha Islands War and the War of the Pacific, under Spanish and Chilean flags. She was launched in 1859. Covadonga hit a floating mine and sank off Chancay in 1880.
A Royal Order of 10 June 1857, led to Covadonga's keel being laid at the Arsenal de la Carrara in Cádiz, Spain, on 13 February 1858. She was a wooden schooner] that was also fitted with steam propulsion. She was launched on 28 November 1859, and her construction cost a total of 5 million Reales de Vellón. She was named for the Battle of Covadonga - a highly symbolic event in Spanish history, being considered the beginning of the Reconquista.
She was commissioned by Royal Command on 8 October 1858. Her first commander was Lieutenant Evaristo Casariego y García. She was originally intended as a mail boat between Manila and Hong Kong, with her berth at the Naval Base of Manila, in the Philippine Islands.
During the Chincha Islands War, Covadonga served as an auxiliary ship to the Spanish fleet. The Chilean corvette Esmeralda, under the command of captain Juan Williams Rebolledo, captured Covadonga during the Naval Battle of Papudo, on 26 November 1865. Her capture led to Spanish Admiral Juan Manuel Pareja committing suicide.
Covadonga was commissioned into the Chilean Navy on 4 December 1865, under her original name. During this war, she also participated at the Naval Battle of Abtao.
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Wikipedia