Actions in Curupayty

In August 1866, Colombo was sent to the front in the Paraguayan War, and docked on September 2 at Desterro, present-day Florianópolis. On 2 February 1867, already in Paraguayan territory, Colombo and other ships bombarded the Fortress of Curupayty, which was on the banks of the Paraguay River.^[4] At the time, the ironclad was part of the fleet formed by the ships Bahia, Barroso, Cabral (its sister ship), Herval, Mariz e Barros, Silvado and Tamandaré, the corvettes Parnaíba and Beberibe, the gunboat Forte de Coimbra and two artillery barges, under the command of vice admiral Joaquim José Inacio.^[5]

This fleet bombarded the fortress together with the battery of the Forte de Curuzu, already taken by the Brazilians, the snipers of the 48th Battalion of Volunteers of the Homeland and with the fleet of the chief Elisiário dos Santos, which included the gunboats Araguari and Iguatemi, Lindóia steamer, Pedro Afonso bomber, Mercedes barge and João das Botas launch. A total of 874 bombs were fired on the fort, killing countless Paraguayans, in addition to seriously injuring its commander, General Díaz. On the Brazilian side, there were about 14 casualties, including the death of the commander of Silvado.^[1][5]

The imperial navy was studying a way to force the passage of this fortress, but considered the feat practically impossible.^[6] Curupayty was a set of fortifications and trenches that formed part of the defensive complex of Humaitá.^[7] It had 35 artillery pieces aimed at the river,^[7] and included the 80-caliber El Cristiano cannon,^[8] one of the largest made in the 19th century.^[9] Still, the navy chose to force the passage, choosing the 15th of August for the action. Before that, however, the fortress was bombarded on 29 May and 5 August.^[5]

On 15 August, Colombo forced the passage of Curupayty, towing the barge Cuevas. According to a Brazilian historian, “Curupaiti resisted with all the powers of despair, filling the air with a hideous roar, and not being able to hold back the gallant ships that followed their destiny with strings of bullets. Not even the projectiles of rifles saw fit to dispense with. They were thrown back with huge bombs and shallow 68 bullets, which made a dent, few of which actually did damage.” Columbus, battleship Brazil, monitor Lima Barros and seven other battleships from the fleet that had bombed the fortress on February 2, took about two hours to cross the pass, with little damage to Columbus, who claimed to have received only one impact.^{[4][5][10][11][12]}

Actions in Humaitá, Angostura and Manduvirá

The allied naval high command decided to transpose Humaitá again with the objective of strengthening the position of the ships that had already passed the fortress on 19 February, and to increase the naval force that would act in the Tebicuarí region, where another Paraguayan fortification was already known.^[13] To carry out this passage, three battleships were designated, Cabral, Silvado and Piauí, who would force the pass, and two who would act in their protection, Lima Barros and Brasil.^[14] Colombo, Herval, Lima Barros and Mariz e Barros would act as support fire. The transposition took place in the early hours of 21 July 1868, with some problems caused by Cabral's poor navigability. After the passage, Humaitá was abandoned by the Paraguayans days later.^[15]

During October 1868, the ironclads Tamandaré, Bahia, Silvado, Barroso, Brasil, Alagoas, Lima Barros and Rio Grande, in that order, forced the passage of Angostura, a fortress on the Paraguay River heavily defended by several batteries. On the 5th, Colombo, under the command of Marques Guimarães, carried out an aggressive reconnaissance of the batteries that protected the fort. On the 28th, Cabral and Piauí began a long and strong bombardment of these batteries. On 19 November, the fort was again violently bombarded by the same squadron with the support of Colombo, Herval and Mariz e Barros, with captain Mamede Simões directing the fire.^[16] A week later, Brasil, Cabral, Piauí and the steamer Triunfo made the crossing of Angostura, a fort that would continue to be bombarded throughout December, until its complete surrender on the 30th.^[17][18]

On 16 April 1869, Colombo was assigned by the new Brazilian naval commander, chief of squadron Elisiário Antônio dos Santos, to compose the squadron that would carry out the second expedition on the Manduvirá River with the goal of chasing the Paraguayan ships that were there. The ironclad's mission, together with the corvette Belmonte, was to block the river. The second expedition ended on the 30th.^[19] On 17 May, Colombo served as a transport ship for the troops of general José Antônio Correia da Câmara, who was in pursuit of Solano López, to the village of Rosario.^[4]

Last years

Since the conquest of Asunción, on 1 January 1869, the already worn out large battleships, such as Colombo, were no longer as useful in the conflict, with naval combats taking place, from then on, in small, very narrow streams, only Tamandaré and the six Pará-class monitors remained in Asunción. Colombo still participated in some missions earlier that year, however, this and other battleships were recalled to Rio de Janeiro, where they underwent major repair works. In 1870, the imperial naval command began to distribute the battleships to the various naval districts for the defense of ports in Brazil.^[4][19][20] This year, in a volley of gunfire, one of the cannons exploded and killed an Imperial sailor and wounded another.^[4]

In the first district, which ran from the extreme south of Brazil to the border between Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo, the ironclads Brasil, Lima Barros, Silvado and Bahia were allocated. In the second, which started on the limits of the first until the city of Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte, the Herval and Mariz e Barros were anchored. Finally, in mid-1873, Colombo and her sister ship Cabral were assigned to the third district, which ran from Mossoró to French Guiana.^[21]

By Notice of 20 February 1874, Colombo was given the display of half armament; on the other hand, on 5 January 1875, the ship underwent a disarmament show to go into repairs at the Arsenal of Rio de Janeiro. On 4 February 1875, the navy decommissioned the ironclad, with the hull being handed over to be scrapped on 26 June 1880.^[4]

Citations

Bibliography

• Barros, Aldeir Isael Faxina (2016). "A Marinha Imperial Brasileira no Manduvirá" (PDF). Revista Marítima Brasileira. Vol. 136, no. 4/06. ISSN 0034-9860.
• Barros, Aldeir Isael Faxina (2018). "A Segunda Passagem de Humaitá" (PDF). Navigator. 14 (27): 45–57. ISSN 0100-1248. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-12. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
• Costa, Francisco Felix Pereira da (1870). Historia da guerra do Brasil contra as Republicas do Uruguay e Paraguay. Vol. 3. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria de A.G. Guimãraes & C.
• Donato, Hernâni (1996). Dicionário das Batalhas Brasileiras (2 ed.). São Paulo: Instituição Brasileira de Difusão Cultural. ISBN 8534800340. OCLC 36768251.
• Fragoso, Tasso (1956). História da Guerra entre a Tríplice Aliança e o Paraguai. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Freitas Bastos S.A.
• Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Brazil". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• Maestri, Mário (2017). Guerra Sem Fim (1 ed.). Brasil: Clube de Autores. ISBN 978-8567542164.
• Marinha do Brasil-A. "Colombo Corveta" (PDF). Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha.
• Marinha do Brasil-B. "Cabral Corveta" (PDF). Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha.
• Martini, Fernando Ribas de (2014). "Construir navios é preciso, persistir não é preciso: a construção naval militar no Brasil entre 1850 e 1910, na esteira da Revolução Industrial" (PDF). Biblioteca Digital USP. Universidade de São Paulo. doi:10.11606/D.8.2014.tde-23012015-103524.
• Rio Branco, Barão do (2012). Obras do Barão do Rio Branco: Efemérides Brasileiras. Brasília: Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão. ISBN 978-85-7631-357-1. OCLC 842885255.
• Santos, Wellington Corlet dos (2018). "A questão do canhão El Cristiano: Reflexões" (PDF). Ahimtb/Rs (264).