"[3] The British magazine Engineering described it: "She is an armour-clad monitor built by Messrs. Laird Brothers, of Birkenhead, in 1866...... She is 190 ft. in length between perpendiculars, 35 ft. in extreme breadth, and 19 ft. 9 in.

There is an armoured pilot tower of hexagonal form abaft the turret from which the ship is worked in action; and the openings in the deck are protected by 2-in.

Commanded by Peruvian-Chilean Captain José María Salcedo, a naval officer in service of the Peruvian government, who had supervised construction on behalf of the Peruvian Navy she left for Peru on 20 January 1866 on a trip that saw some trouble: a month-long wait at Brest, a minor collision with the ironclad Independencia on 28 February, refusal of service by neutral countries, a month of repairs at Rio de Janeiro, insubordination by Independencia's commander and the capture and sinking of the Spanish brigantine Manuel.

When she finally arrived in port at Ancud in allied Chile to join the rest of the combined fleet on 7 June, it was too late for her to participate in the conflict.

Under Captain Lizardo Montero, Huáscar prepared at Valparaíso to participate in a late 1866 expedition to fight the Spanish fleet in the Philippines.

On the 6 May, two of de Piérola's supporters, Colonel Lorranaga and Major Echenique, boarded the Huáscar at the port of Callao while the captain and executive officer where ashore.

After sinking the corvette by repeated ramming, Huáscar rescued the survivors, then continued pursuit of a fleeing enemy ship, the Covadonga.

During the next 137 days Huáscar not only evaded confrontation with the enemy fleet, following orders from the Peruvian government, but made the coast insecure for Chilean transport ships.

On 8 October 1879 Huáscar was captured by the Chilean Navy under the command of Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas at the Battle of Angamos, during which Rear Admiral Grau and 32 of her crew of 200 were killed.

At Arica she fought a duel with the Peruvian monitor Manco Cápac while participating in the bombardment of the city –where her new commander Manuel Thomson was killed– and she also aided in the blockade of Callao.

After the war, in 1885 and 1887, Huáscar was renovated, including renewal of boilers, new screw design, and all-new steam engines to move the gun and artillery turrets.

In May 1888, as part of a ceremonial division commanded by Rear Admiral Luis Uribe, Huáscar brought the bodies of the officers of the Esmeralda from their graves at Iquique to a new burial place at Valparaíso.

Undergoing major maintenance work at the onset of the war, she was seized and towed out of Valparaíso by the rebel-leaning navy, and readied for action within three days.

She became a floating museum and a memorial, displaying many objects and relics recovered from Navy warehouses or donated by private citizens from the Talcahuano and Concepción area, including: Between 1971 and 1972, a second restoration phase was undertaken at the Chilean Navy's drydock in Talcahuano: the hull was completely repaired, and engines rebuilt according to original blueprints obtained in England.

[citation needed] In 1995, the World Ship Trust conferred the Maritime Heritage Award on the Chilean Navy for its restoration of Huáscar.

Huáscar remains highly regarded in both Peru and Chile, being considered as the tomb of the Peruvian Admiral of the Fleet Miguel Grau and the Chilean Captains Arturo Prat and Manuel Thomson.