Palliser shells dismantle Huáscar at Angamos

Latorre withheld Cochrane's fire until the range had fallen to about 2,200 metres, and her opening Palliser armour-piercing shells immediately entered Huáscar's turret and cut a rudder chain. Hull deformation left by the earlier ramming of Esmeralda compounded the steering damage. A later bridge hit killed Miguel Grau, while successive hits destroyed steering stations and killed the officers who inherited command. Blanco Encalada approached without being engaged until roughly 200 metres, then joined with fire that devastated the turret. Huáscar's surviving officers tried to scuttle her, but a Chilean boarding party closed the condenser intake, fought the fires, and preserved the ship as a prize. Gunfire had cut the flag chain, allowing the Peruvian crew to maintain that they had never deliberately struck their colours.