The Battle of Quilmes took place between a fleet of the Imperial Brazilian Navy, commanded by British admiral James Norton and a fleet of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata under the command of William Brown. The confrontations began at dawn on July 30, 1826 and lasted for three hours.
Background On the night of July 29, while an Argentine convoy of troops and military equipment carried out a crossing to the Banda Oriental, escorted by the Río de la Plata schooner that was commanded by captain Leonardo Rosales, admiral Brown, with a force integrated by the 25 de Mayo frigate (flagship), the Congreso, Independencia, Republica and General Balcarce brigs, the Sarandí schooner and other small ships in a total of 18, was in his usual base waiting for the convoy's arrival and left the port in an unsuccessful attempt to surprise the Brazilians.
The Brazilian fleet, commanded by captain Norton, was composed of the Nichteroy frigate, the corvettes Liberal, Maria da Glória, Maceió and Itaparica, the brigs Pirajá, Caboclo and 29 de Agosto, the schooners Leal Paulistana, Dona Paula, Conceição and 7 de Março and a few gunboats, with a total of more than 200 guns. From 8 o'clock onwards, the fleet continued to sail until midnight, when it anchored to the east of the outer channel, near Ensenada waiting for the return of the convoy to attack it, which it finally did near the coast of Quilmes.
Order of Battle Empire of Brazil
Ships Type Guns Nichteroy Frigate 38 Maria da Glória Corvette 30 Corvette 22 Maceió Corvette 20 Itaparica Corvette 20 Caboclo Brig 18 29 de Agosto Brig 18 Pirajá Brig 18 Leal Paulistana Schooner 8 Conceição Schooner 4 Dona Paula Schooner 4 7 de Março Schooner 3 9 de Janeiro Gunboat 2 12 de Outubro Gunboat 2 Itaparica Gunboat 1
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
Ships Type Guns 25 de Mayo Frigate 36 Independencia Brig 22 Congreso Brig 18 Republica Brig 16 Balcarce Brig 14 Oriental-Argentino Brig 13 Sarandí Schooner 8 Río Schooner 1 Pepa Schooner 1 9 Gunboats Gunboat 1 gun each
Battle As Scheina puts it:
References Citations
Bibliography
External links Ships of the United Provinces of the River Plate Historical Handbook of World Navies Ships of War Article on the foreign origin of sailors involved in the Argentina-Brazil War Official site of the Argentine Navy Official site of Brazilian Navy