1862–1865 Upon entering service,
Vencedora was assigned to the Pacific
Squadron and proceeded to the
Río de la Plata (River Plate) on the coast of South America, arriving there in April 1862. The
screw schooner soon joined the squadron. and proceeded down the coast of
Patagonia, passed the
Falkland Islands, rounded
Cape Horn on 6 February 1863, and entered the Pacific Ocean. in the United States from 9 October to 1 November 1863. They then headed southward and arrived at
Valparaíso, Chile, on 13 January 1864. At the time, Spain still had not recognized the independence of Chile and
Peru from the
Spanish Empire, and the presence of the Spanish
warships on the Pacific coast of South America – especially in the aftermath of Spain's
annexation of the
First Dominican Republic in 1861 and Spanish involvement in
a multinational intervention in Mexico in 1861–1862 – raised suspicions in South America as to the intentions of the Spanish government. Tensions with Peru remained high, and a member of
Resolución′s crew was killed while on leave at Callao.
Numancia′s
commanding officer,
Capitán de navío (
Ship-of-the-line captain)
Casto Méndez Núñez, gathered information from
Vencedora′s commanding officer, learning that Spain had reached an agreement with Peru to avoid war and that the Pacific Squadron was at Callao, and
Numancia and
Marqués de la Victoria got back underway and rendezvoused with the squadron at Callao on 5 May 1865. When Chile refused to settle, Pareja announced a
blockade of Chilean ports, Méndez Núñez concentrated his squadron off Valparaíso, where
Vencedora and
Resolución joined it on 19 December 1865.
Bolivia joined the war against Spain on 22 March 1866, closing all the Pacific ports of South America south of
Colombia to Spanish ships. Under orders to take punitive action against South American ports, Méndez Núñez selected undefended Valparaíso as his target, although he found the idea of attacking an undefended port repugnant. It inflicted
US$10 million (equivalent to about US$224 million in 2011) in damage. Méndez Núñez chose the heavily defended port of Callao, Peru, for his next attack. He divided the squadron into two divisions, the first made up of
Berenguela,
Numancia,
Reina Blanca,
Vencedora, and three auxiliary
steamers and the second of
Resolución,
Villa de Madrid, the screw frigate ,
Paquete de Maule, and three transport
frigates and, after burning
prize ships his squadron had captured, set off on 14 April 1866 for
San Lorenzo Island off Callao, the second division getting underway at 09:00 and the first division at 16:00. The first division made the voyage under steam and arrived at San Lorenzo Island on 25 April, Running low on ammunition and with only the last three Peruvian guns still firing, the Spanish squadron ceased fire at 16:40 as dusk fell and
fog began to form in the harbor. After getting underway from San Lorenzo Island, the Philippines-bound division parted company with the other ships.
Numancia was slow under sail, forcing the other ships to use reduced sail so as not to leave her behind. After the first case of
scurvy was detected among
Berenguela′s crew, however, she and
Uncle Sam parted company with
Numancia on 15 May 1866 and headed for
Papeete on
Tahiti in the
Society Islands, as did
Vencedora on 19 May. After the squadron reconnoitered the coast, fighting began when the landing force went ashore at
Looc on 29 October 1882. On 30 October the Spanish force landed at
Padang-Padang. After conducting several raids, the troops returned to the ships and landed at
Boal on 8 November 1882. The squadron and troops returned to Manila in mid-November 1882. On 17 December 1882,
Vencedora,
Velasco,
Sirena, and
Arayak landed a force which occupied
Tataan on
Tariatavi between Jolo and
Bongao with the consent of the
Sultan of Jolo. A Spanish naval base subsequently was established on the island.
Vencedora and the gunboat conducted a punitive operation against Moro pirates at
Taglibi, sinking the pirate ships there with gunfire in exchange for four Spaniards
killed in action.
Vencedora,
Aragón,
Gravina,
Sirena, and
Paragua 2 mounted another expedition against pirates in Jolo in November 1883. On 7 November, the ships bombarded
Looc and the vicinity of
Tapucan and
Panlau-Panlau, then landed a force composed of two
companies of
Spanish Army soldiers totaling 810 men, a disciplinary company of 150 men, 70 convicts, Spanish marine infantrymen, and 400 sailors from the ships' crews. On 8 November the Spanish operations expanded to
Boad. The Spanish force suffered two dead and 10 wounded. After reembarking the landing force, the ships returned to Zamboanga on 9 November 1883. ==Final disposition==