Ironclads were widely used in South America . Both sides used ironclads in the Chincha Islands War between Spain and the combined forces of Peru and Chile in the early 1860s . The powerful Spanish Numancia participated in the Battle of Callao but was unable to inflict significant damage to the Callao defences . Besides , Peru was able to deploy two locally built ironclads based on American Civil War designs , the Loa ( a wooden ship converted into a casemate ironclad ) and the Victoria ( a small monitor armed with a single 68 @-@ pdr gun ) , as well as two British @-@ built ironclads : Independencia , a centre @-@ battery ship , and the turret ship Huáscar . Numancia was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world , arriving in Cádiz on 20 September 1867 , and earning the motto : " Enloricata navis que primo terram circuivit " [ " First ironclad ship to sail around the world " ] ) . In the War of the Pacific in 1879 , both Peru and Chile had ironclad warships , including some of those used a few years previously against Spain . While the Independencia ran aground early on , the Peruvian ironclad ' Huáscar made a great impact against Chilean shipping , delaying Chilean ground invasion by six months . She was eventually caught by two more modern Chilean centre @-@ battery ironclads , the Blanco Encalada and the Almirante Cochrane at the Battle of Angamos Point .