Ships and balloons

Paraguayan chata

A cannon almost at water level.

Paraguayan chata
A Paraguayan chata towed into battle. Reconstruction.
Armament
One 68- or 80-pounder
Freeboard
About 30 cm above the water
Crew
Six to eight men
Propulsion
None: towed by steamers

The chata was a gun barge: a flat-bottomed raft with no engine or sails, a single heavy cannon and its side barely above the water, almost invisible from a ship. At Riachuelo, the Paraguayan steamers towed six or seven chatas. They fired on the Brazilian fleet, but were left defenseless and all were lost.

‡ Disputed.Six or seven chatas at Riachuelo, depending on the source.

Sources: Revista de Historia Naval (2023); “Battle of Riachuelo”, English Wikipedia; ABC Color, the weapons of the Paraguayan soldiers.

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