ARM Montezuma
Mexican naval vessel (1842 - 1846)
The Mexican Navy steam paddle frigate Montezuma was part of the Mexican Navy from 1842 to 1847. She participated in the Naval Battle of Campeche in 1843. She was one of the first paddle warships to see action in a naval battle. She was then purchased by the Spanish Navy, renamed Castilla and was their first steam warship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Background of the Mexican Navy
The Mexican Navy has its origins in the creation of the Ministry of War in 1821. From that year until 1939 it existed jointly with the Mexican Army in the organic ministry. Since its declaration of independence from Spain in September 1810, through the mid decades of the 19th century, Mexico found itself in a constant state of war, mostly against Spain which had not recognized its independence. Therefore, its priority was to purchase its first fleet from the U.S. in order to displace the last remaining Spanish forces from its coasts.
Construction of the Montezuma
The Montezuma, probably named after Montezuma the last ruler of the Aztec Empire, was built in the Blackwall Yard of London in 1842 as a wooden paddle frigate of around 1,000 tons displacement. Her complement was 6 officers and 75 ratings.
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This entry incorporates text from “ARM Montezuma” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.