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The First Chilean Navy Squadron was the naval force that terminated Spanish colonial rule on the south-west coast of South America〔 and protagonized the most important naval actions in the Latin American wars of independence.〔Georg von Rauch, ''Conflict in the Southern Cone'', ISBN 0-275-96347-0, Praeger publishers, 1999, page 143〕 The Chilean government organized the squadron in order to carry the war to the Viceroyalty of Perú, then the center of Spanish power in South America, and thus secure the independence of Chile and Argentina. ==Background== The Napoleonic wars (1803–1815) had crippled Spain's navy, and the French occupation had destroyed the logistical base of its dockyards. Nevertheless, during the Old Fatherland, the Spaniards or the Royalists were able from Callao, the royalist stronghold in Perú, to blockade any Chilean port, to land in Talcahuano and support the advance of the royalist troops against Santiago de Chile, the main city of the revolutionary forces and crush the rebellion in Chile. Argentine historian Bartolomé Mitre gives the following list〔Bartolomé Mitre, ''(Origen de la Escuadra chilena )'', retrieved on 29 December 2011〕 of armed Spanish ships in the west coast of South America: frigates ''Venganza'' (44 guns) and ''Esmeralda (1791)'' (44), merchant corvettes ''Milagro'' (18), ''San Juan Bautista'' (18) and ''Begoña'' (18), second class frigates ''Governadora'' (16), ''Comercio'' (12), ''Presidente'' (12), ''Castilla'' (12) and ''Bigarrera'' (12), corvettes ''Resolución'' (34), ''Sebastiana'' (34) and ''Veloz'' (22), brigantine ''Pezuela'' (18), plus other 3 unnamed ships with 37 guns. All things considered 17 ships with 331 guns. In 1819 came the frigate ''Prueba'' and 1824 came the 74 guns ''Asia'' and the ''Aquiles''. Naval capacity played almost no role for the revolutionary forces in the time from the first declaration of independence 1810 to the Spanish "reconquest" of Chile 1814. Two ships bought by the patriots were defeated in a short fight off Valparaíso in May 1813.〔Lawrence Sondhaus, ''Naval warfare, 1815–1914'', 2001, by Routledge, ISBN 0-415-21477-7, (url )〕 After the Battle of Chacabuco (1817), the beginning of the ''Patria Nueva'', Chilean patriots re-entered Santiago, but Talcahuano and Concepción (until 1819-20), Valdivia (until 1820) and Chiloé (until 1826) remained under Royalist control. The Chilean patriots decided that they needed their own navy with trustworthy crews if they were to protect the long coasts of the state and to mobilize troops against the enemy. Without a proper naval force, Chile was vulnerable to enemy landings. The major concern of the British and US governments was the preservation of their trade. Moreover, during the Napoleonic wars Britain became committed to defending the status quo in the Spanish empire in order to ensure Spain’s alliance against France. In 1817, Castlereagh secured an order forbidding British subjects from serving in Spanish American armies.〔Malcolm Deas, Anthony McFarlane, Gustavo Bell, Matthew Brown, Eduardo Posada Carbó, (The role of Great Britain in the Independence of Colombia ), ISBN 978-958-8244-74-7, June 2011, Bogotá, Colombia〕 Although, in practice, strict neutrality was not always observed.〔 Still, British and US public opinion welcomed the end of Spanish autocratic government in South America. In England, the end of the Napoleonic wars permitted the government to reduce the number of ships in the Royal Navy from 700 to 134 and the number of sailors from 140,000 to 23,000, thus lessening the presence of the Royal Navy off the coasts of South America.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First Chilean Navy Squadron」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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