History of Chile the Spaniards at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12 and marking the beginning of the "Patria Nueva". San Martín considered the liberation of Chile a strategic stepping-stone to the emancipation of Peru, which he saw as the key to hemispheric victory over the Spanish. Chile won its formal independence when San Martín defeated the last large Spanish force on Chilean soil at the Battle of Maipú on April 5, 1818. San Martín then led his Argentine and Chilean followers north to liberate Peru; and fighting continued in Chile's southern provinces, the bastion of the royalists, until 1826. A declaration
USS Torchwood (AN-55) USS Torchwood (AN-55) USS "Torchwood" (AN-55/YN-74) was an which served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of operations during World War II. She performed her net laying services until war’s end, and then was given to the Republic of China. "Torchwood" (YN-74) was laid down on 22 June 1943 at Stockton, California, by the Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Co., redesignated "AN-55" on 20 January 1944; launched on 19 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Henry F. Bruns; and commissioned at San Francisco, California, on 12 May 1944. After fitting-out, "Torchwood" cleared San Francisco on 3 June 1944 and arrived in