Independencia was 215 feet (65.5 m) long between perpendiculars, had a beam of 44 feet 9 inches (13.6 m) and a draft of 22 feet 6 inches (6.9 m). The ship displaced 3,500 long tons (3,600 t). She had one trunk steam engine that drove her single propeller. The engine produced 2,200 indicated horsepower (1,600 kW) which gave the ship a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[1] For long-distance travel, Independencia was fitted with three masts[2] and barque rigged. She had a crew of 250 officers and crewmen.[3]
Independencia was built by Samuda Brothers at their shipyard in Poplar, London. She was laid down in 1864 and launched on 8 August 1865 and completed in December 1866.[4] She had her boilers replaced in 1878. In February 1879, her armament was reinforced by a 9-inch (229 mm) rifled, muzzle-loading pivot gun in the bow and a 150-pounder Parrott gun in the stern, also on a pivoting mount.[2]
On 21 May, she was in pursuit of Covadonga after the Battle of Iquique and attempted to ram the Chilean ship as Independencia had only hit her opponent once thus far. The smaller Covadonga was hugging the coastline and one of her sharpshooters shot Independencia's helmsman just as the ship began to turn. Without anyone at the wheel, Independencia ran aground. Covadonga turned around and came up aft of Independencia's stern and raked her, forcing her surrender, until Huáscar drove off the Chilean ship. Independencia's casualties were four dead and eleven wounded; the ship was a total loss and only two 7-inch guns could be salvaged.[5]Huáscar loaded Independencia's crew aboard and blew up the wreck and set it on fire to prevent her capture.[2]