According to the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peruvian_Navy_ships was she part of the Lima-class cruisers with as sister ship the Diogenes from 1811. She was built as the merchant ship Socrates in 1880, in the United Kingdom rebuilt as a cruiser in 1811, later in Panama refitted and in 1920 rearmed. She first served as a transport and became later a submarine depot ship before being discarded in 1935.
The website http://www.shvoong.com/humanities/history/141802-ilustrated-history-peruvian-navy/ claimed that as a result of public fundraising early 1879 the Peruvian government was able to buy ships a necessity as a result of a threatening war with Chile. From a German company were the Socrates and the Diogenes acquired but the delivery was obstructed by the German government which seized both ships. The Socrates was in 1889 as the gunboat Lima commissioned in the Peruvian navy.
The newspaper New York Times dated 11 July 1855 published a tiding dated Lima 10 July according to which the new Peruvian gunboats Socrates and Diogenes both retained in the United Kingdom were to leave within a few weeks with as destination Callao while commanded by Peruvian naval officers.(http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00715FE3E5B10738DDDA80994DF405B8584F0D3 )
In an interesting article in the Hampton Roads Ship Model Society Logbook of July 2011 (www.hrsms.org/home) mainly dealing with her sister ship the Diogenes which apparently later became the USS Topeka were both ships built at the yard of Georg Howalt at Kiel, Germany and rebuilt into gunboats by the yard of Thames Iron Works, England.
The Naval Annual for 1913 supplied hardly any details as she was of 1,700 tons, armed with 2-6” guns, a horsepower of 1,800 ihp and a speed of 16 knots.
Jane’s Fighting Ships edition 1931 calls her a submarine depot ship but classed as a cruiser built at Kiel in 1880 with a displacement of 1,790 tons, a horsepower of 2,000 ihp allowing a speed of 14 knots and a coal bunker capacity of 300 tons making a range of 3,000 nautical miles with a speed of 10 knots possible. The armament consisted then of 3-4” guns and 4-3pdrs while her crew numbered 150 men. She was completely refitted in the years 1927-1928. The 1919 edition gives her a displacement of 1,790 tons, a crew of 131 men, a horsepower of 2,000 ihp with a speed of 10 knots, a coal bunker capacity of 300 tons and an armament of 4-4” guns and 8-3pdrs.
Conway’s All the Worlds Fightings ships 1860-1905 mentioned her belonging to the Lima-class with a displacement of 1,700 tons and as dimensions 76,20 x 10,67 x 4,57metres or 250’ x 35’ x 15’ (maximum). The two shaft horizontal compound steam engines provided 1,800 ihp allowing a speed of 16,2 knots while she had a coal bunker capacity of 300 tons. Her crew numbered 150 men and she was discarded around 1935. The edition for 1906-1921 claimed that she was stricken in 1940 and that the two funnelled hulk was resting at Iquitos up the Amazon river. Now her displacement was described as 1,790 tons.
The Victory Edition of Warships of the World published in 1946 by Roger Kafka and Roy L. Pepperburg still mentioned a submarine tender Lima of 1,790 tons refitted in 1927 and built in 1880.
