ARP ''Tacuary'' was a

riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

gunboat in service on the

Paraguayan Navy The Paraguayan Navy ( es, Armada Paraguaya) is the maritime force of the Armed Forces of Paraguay, in charge of the defense of Paraguay's waters despite not having direct access to the sea. It has gone to war on two occasions: the War of th ...

for almost a century. She was built in 1907 by T. & J. Hosking,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, as the steel-hulled yacht ''Clover'' and initially named ''Adolfo Riquelme'' when acquired in 1911.''Tacuary- de yate a vapor británico a barcaza de carga naval Paraguaya''
by Hartmut Ehlers From 1930 the ship bore the name of another gunboat, which was the first Paraguayan naval vessel to cross the Atlantic in 1855.

History

Acquired by Paraguay

''Clover'' arrived in Paraguay in November 1911 along with ''Constitución'', a former ocean-going freighter converted into gunboat, and the transport ''General Díaz''. The three ships had been bought to suppress an attempt in early 1911 to overthrow President Jara regime, but by that time the uprising was over. She was commissioned in the Paraguayan Navy as gunboat ''Adolfo Riquelme'', named after a politician killed in March 1911 during the revolt against Jara.

Revolution of 1922 and upgrade

She was initially used as a training ship. During the revolution of 1922, however, ''Adolfo Riquelme'' was the lead ship of the loyalist flotilla. She shelled the town of Encarnación, on the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, which had been occupied by the rebels. The gunboat was lightly damaged by return fire on July. In September she shelled Encarnación again, this time to support the landing of 150 soldiers, who engaged the rebels and destroyed a railway section and telegraph lines before falling back to the loyalist beachhead. On 5 September the aviso ''Coronel Martínez'' sank a torpedo-carrying canoe that was in the process of attacking ''Adolfo Riquelme''. She supported another landing in Caraguatá, and the next week she shelled the railway system along the Paraná. In the course of the revolution, she endured the attack of two rebel aircraft to no effect. An upgrade in 1925 included modifications to her bridge and deck. Her funnel was also refitted in 1927. She was renamed ''Tacuary'' on 30 July 1930. She was laid up again in May 1931 for repairs to her keel and hastily relaunched on 28 July 1932 due to the beginning of the Chaco War with

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Chaco War

Her first trip to the north took place on 5 August 1932 escorting the barges ''Irene'' and ''Bahía Negra'', ferrying troops of the 3rd Artillery Group to the battle front. ''Tacuary'' arrived back in Asunción on 13 August where pending repairs were finished. She sailed again on 18 August. ''Tacuary'' then came under the command of the 3rd Army Division Headquarters at Bahía Negra. Her commander during this deployment was Captain Rodrigo Machuca.

Air defense of Bahía Negra

On 22 December 1932 at 11:00 AM, while at anchor at Bahía Negra () with her boilers shut down, ''Tacuary'' was attacked by two Bolivian CW-14 Osprey fighter bombers and one

Curtiss P-6 Hawk The Curtiss P-6 Hawk is an American single-engine biplane fighter introduced into service in the late 1920s with the United States Army Air Corps and operated until the late 1930s prior to the outbreak of World War II. Design and development Th ...

that took off from Fortín Vitriones. Some sources claim that the attacking planes were actually three

Vickers Vespa The Vickers Vespa was a British army cooperation biplane designed and built by Vickers Limited in the 1920s. While not adopted by Britain's Royal Air Force, small numbers were bought by the Irish Free State and Bolivia, the latter of which used ...

. The aircraft launched three bombs, one of which exploded only 20 m away from ''Tacuary''. They regrouped over Brazilian territory for a second airstrike. They strafed and dropped six small bombs. During a third attack, again with six bombs and cannon fire, ''Tacuary'' hit one Osprey with a 37mm round. The Osprey split from the package, and trailing black smoke, eventually crashed on Brazilian territory, according to the Paraguayan report. Of the 15 bombs launched, 11 straddled the gunboat. The army commander of the Northern Sector, Colonel José Julian Sánchez, was killed during the attacks by a bomb splinter. ''Tacuary'' complement remained unscathed. The two surviving aircraft repeated the attack twice on 24 December, at 8:00 and 17:00 hrs, but were fought off without inflicting any damage on the ship, which this time took evasive manoeuvres. The strafing, however, resulted in several wounded. The raids of 22 and 24 December left 29 splinter holes and 45 bullet holes on ''Tacuary''´s hull. After these attacks, the crew used sheets and tree branches to

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

the gunboat.Sosa, Horacio (1985). ''Cincuenta años después: recuerdos de la guerra del Chaco''. Arte Nuevo, p. 86. Tacuary was relieved from her station at Bahía Negra by the scout ''Teniente Herreros''. She continued with supply missions until the end of the war. As transport ship, ''Tacuary'' ferried 6,602 troops, 230 passengers, 480 prisoners, 1,258 animals, and 1,653 t of cargo.

After the War

''Tacuary'' was used as transport ship up to 1938, when she was laid up in order to converting her into a Presidential

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

. The death of President José Félix Estigarribia halted these plans, and the former gunboat became a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

in the Naval Transport Service. From 1949 to 1966, the ship endured a lengthy refit, aimed to convert her in a passenger ship to operate between

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. In 1952 her old steam propulsion was replaced by two diesel engines. She was relaunched on 30 December 1966. She was in service as a transport ship until 1978. ''Tacuary'' was then re-listed as a cargo barge and was eventually stricken from the Paraguayan Navy list on 30 November 1999.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacuary 1907 ships Gunboats of the Paraguayan Navy Individual yachts Ships built in Ireland Chaco War Ships of the Paraguayan Navy Maritime incidents in 1922 Maritime incidents in 1932 Riverine warfare Ships of the Chaco War