In the winter [U.S. Summer] of 1941, Peru established a blockade of the Gulf of Guayaquil thus cutting off the maritime route to Puerto Bolivia from Guayaquil, the Peruvians used a naval force of 14 warships and gunboats to successfully carry this operation out. By the 26th July 1941 Purto Bolivia was in the front line of the war, it was on this day that the Ecuadrean Coast Guard Cutter "Abdon Calderon" [300 tons, two 76mm guns and two 20mm Breda anti-aircraft guns fought the Peruvian Destroyer "Almirante Villar" [1585 tons] after the the Peruvian ship tried to intercept the "Abdon Calderon". A fight of 16 minutes developed with the "Almirante Villar" taking two hits on the bow, damaging it so badly that it had to retire when the Peruvian Cruiser "Colonel Bolognesi" arrived at the scene of action, while at the same time the smoke of a number of other Peruvian ships was observed heading towards the "Almirante Villar". As a result of this brief engagement the "Almirante Villar" with considerable damage to its bridge was forced to be towed to the Peruvian port of Callao for repairs, with the Cruiser "Almirante Grau" and the torpedo boat "Teniente Rodriguez", it had also suffered 25 killed and wounded. The Captain of the "Abdon Calderon was Rafael Moran Valverde while the other officers from this ship were; Teniente de Fregata Ing. Abraham Game Bustamante, Chief Engineer, Alferez de Navio de Sanidad (Medical Doctor) Victor Ludena Ontaneda, Alferez de Fragate [Ensign] Cesar Endara Penaherrera and Manuel Nieto Cadena, Alferez de Fragata Ing. Sergio Pazmino Egas and Alfg Oficial de Mar de 3a Alfonso Darquea Moscoso and Victor Moran Villena. Back to Table of Contents -- El Dorado Vol V No. 3 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by The South and Central American Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com