South American naval history is an interesting sideshow to the conflicts of the European powers. Brazil and Argentina and Chile (and, up to 1880 and again after WWII, Peru) have all at times become rivals and built up fleets of ships they could barely afford to buy. These intermittent "mini arms races" have mostly been pointlessscriptafter the Pacific War war between Peru and Chile there have been no major international naval campaigns. However, the fleets, besides being a drain on the budgets of these countries, have also frequently been a resource that can be exploited by ambitious aspirants who would claim the top spot in the presidency/dictatorship/military junta. Sometimes the fleet as a hotbed of dissent takes a leading role by acts of mutiny and rebellion. The Chilean conflict in 1891 between the congress and the President (Balmaceda) was one of these conflicts. While much of the army leadership supported Balmaceda, the aristocrats who led the navy swung towards the side of congress. At the time the navy had several ironclad warships, including the ironclads Blanco Encalada and Cochrane (and Huascar), the modern cruiser Esmeralda, and smaller ships (there were several wooden corvettes and gunboats but I do not have a list of which were available to either faction).
The Lynch and Condell, both torpedo gunboats, and the fast steamer Imperial (hastily armed) were the few ships that stayed loyal to Balmaceda. Control of the seascriptvital to Chile's geographyscriptwas in the hands of the Congressional squadron and the loyalists could only manage quick raids and troop dropoffs. However, they drew blood at Caldera. The Blanco Encalada (renamed and rebuilt, this was actually the Valparaiso, one of the ships that had captured the famous Peruvian turret ship Huascar) was torpedoed by the Lynch. This was the first successful use of a self-propelled torpedo against an armored warship (the distinction of sinking any warship with a motorized torpedo goes to the Russians for sinking a Turkish gunboat in 1878).
Although the Lynch and the Condell harassed the congressional forces, they could not deny the rebels control of the seas, and the congress eventually organized its own land force as well. They had to act fast because of the possibility that a small battleship (later named the Prat) and two cruisers (the Errazuriz and Pinto) being completed in Europe for Chile could be sailed around to Chile by Balmaceda loyalists. With the loss of the Blanco Encalada the balance of naval power could shift if the war dragged on.
There were two incidents with the US navy as well. While British business interests favored congress (for typical corrupt reasons) the USA favored the president. The USS Charleston hunted down a rebel-contracted transport (the Itata) which left San Diego with munitions for the congressional forces. The Chilean cruiser 'Esmeralda' confronted the Charleston, but no battle was fought. [It would have been fairly even between these cruisers]. The Charleston caught the fleeing Italia and brought it back to the USA while the Esmeralda had to take coal in Acapulco, Mexico (by force). Another incident involved the USS Baltimore, another cruiser, whose sailors were involved in a brawl with their Chilean counterparts at Valparaiso. The Baltimore and the Esmeralda played cat-and-mouse [another basically fair fight] while diplomatic threats were exchanged but once again no war followed the incident. At this stage in history the navy of the USA was little stronger than that of Chile.
The battleship and cruisers completed in Europe were not allowed to leave for Chile, and so could not assist Balmaceda. The forces of congress eventually won the civil war and the USA had to deal with them as the legitimate government.
MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE CONFLICT (link to an external website)
Looking at other naval revolts in South American history, the most famous may be the 'renegade' actions of the Peruvian turret ship Huascar which was attacked without effect by two British ships. This 'mutiny' was also related to an internal political struggle in Peru. Other interesting naval mutinies happened in Brazil in 1893-94 and again when the new and expensive Brazilian dreadnought battleships (the source of a new arms race) were taken over by mutiny and held Rio hostage under their guns in 1910. In 1931 the fleet of Chile (a dreadnought battleship built in response to those of Brazil and Argentina, plus some old cruisers dating from a prior arms race with Argentina) rose up in revolt but was demoralized by an air attack (despite the ineffectiveness of the air force in actually hitting the ships).
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