Ypiranga incident

Ypiranga Incident
Part of the Mexican Revolution and occupation of Veracruz

The deck of Ypiranga around 1911
DateApril 21, 1914
Location
Result German ship captured then released
Belligerents
 United States  Germany

The Ypiranga Incident occurred on April 21, 1914, at the port of Veracruz in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Ypiranga was a German steamship that was commissioned to transport arms and munitions to the Mexican federal government under Victoriano Huerta. The United States had placed Mexico under an arms embargo to stifle the flow of weaponry to the war-torn state, then in the throes of civil war, forcing Huerta's government to look to Europe[1][2] and Japan[3] for armaments.

Ypiranga tried to enter the harbor at Veracruz to unload on the first day of the US occupation but was detained by US troops who were ordered by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson to enforce the arms embargo he had placed on Mexico. There was neither a declaration of war on Mexico by the United States nor a formal blockade on its ports, thus the detention of Ypiranga was not legal and she was released. She proceeded to a port where the US military was absent, Puerto México (modern-day Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz), and was able to offload her cargo to Huerta's officials.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Thomas Baecker, "The Arms of the Ypiranga: The German Side," The Americas, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jul., 1973), pp. 1–17 Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
  2. ^ a b Ypiranga and Bavaria Unloaded Cargoes at Puerto Mexico.; First had 10,000 RiflesThe New York Times, 28 May 1914
  3. ^ "Guns of the Mexican Revolution". 25 August 2011.