Spanish battleship Alfonso XIII
.jpg) Alfonso XIII in 1932, after having been renamed España
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  Spain | |
| Name | Alfonso XIII (renamed España in 1931) |
| Namesake | King Alfonso XIII of Spain ; after 1931, the country of Spain |
| Builder | SECN, Naval Dockyard, El Ferrol, Spain |
| Laid down | 23 February 1910 |
| Launched | 7 May 1913 |
| Completed | 16 August 1915 |
| Fate | Sunk by naval mine, 30 April 1937 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | España-class battleship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 140 m (459 ft 4 in) o/a |
| Beam | 24 m (78 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) |
| Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement | 854 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
Alfonso XIII was the second of three
Despite the reason for the ships' construction, Spain remained neutral during World War I. Alfonso XIII's early career passed largely uneventfully with routine training exercises in Spanish waters, though she was used to assist civilian vessels in distress and her crew was deployed to suppress civil unrest in Spain. In the 1920s, she took part in the Rif War in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, where her sister España was wrecked. In 1931, Alfonso XIII abdicated and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed; the new republic sought to erase remnants of the royal order, and so Alfonso XIII was renamed España. As part of cost-cutting measures, the ship was then reduced to reserve. Plans to modernize España and her sister Jaime I in the mid-1930s came to nothing when the Spanish coup of July 1936 initiated the Spanish Civil War.
At the start of the conflict, the crew murdered the ship's officers and attempted to resist the
Design
Following the destruction of much of the Spanish fleet in the
Alfonso XIII was 132.6 m (435 ft)
Alfonso XIII was armed with a
Service history
Early career
The
The peacetime routine of the Spanish fleet included training exercises, frequently held off Galicia, and a fleet review off Santander during the King's usual summer vacation there. The year 1916 passed uneventfully until September, when Alfonso XIII joined the search for the
In 1920, the Spanish Navy embarked on a series of long-distances cruises to
Rif War
Throughout the early 1920s, she provided
In August 1923, she participated in the first combined arms operation in Spanish military history that included aircraft, warships, and ground forces operating together.
By 1925, the Rif rebels had widened the war by surrounding and taking over several French positions in neighboring
Decommissioning and planned modernization
After completing the annual training routine in 1927, Alfonso XIII embarked her namesake and his wife Victoria Eugenie in September for a cruise along the coast of Galicia. They returned to the ship in October to visit Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa, where rebellions against Spanish rule had recently been suppressed. Alfonso XIII was escorted by the cruisers Reina Victoria Eugenia and Mendez Nunez and the destroyer Bustamante. Alfonso XIII participated in a fleet review with British, French, Italian, and Portuguese warships during the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition that began in May and continued until January 1930. By this time, the effects of the Great Depression had spurred significant domestic opposition to the regime of Primo de Rivera, leading to his resignation on 28 January, and ultimately to Alfonso XIII's exile in April 1931. On 17 April, three days after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, the new government ordered Alfonso XIII renamed España.[2][10]
Immediately thereafter, the new government began a series of cost-cutting measures to offset the deficits that had been incurred during the Rif War, and as a result, both España and Jaime I were placed in
The finalized plan for España and Jaime I involved increasing the height of the
Spanish Civil War and loss
.svg)
When the coup, led by
With the shipyard under Nationalist control, work began to ready España for offensive operations as quickly as possible. She set sail on 12 August; by that time, her wing turrets were still not operational, and she carried only twelve of her 102 mm guns. The crew was composed of volunteers and cadets from the
.svg)
On 25 August, España sortied in company with Velasco to make further attacks on the Republican-held coast between Santander and
España underwent a refit in November that included the installation of four German-supplied
After returning to Ferrol, she once again entered the dry dock for maintenance that lasted until 3 March. Another patrol along the northern coast followed immediately after España emerged from the dry dock and on 8 March, she stopped the freighter Achuri (2,733 GRT). While on patrol on 30 March, she encountered José Luis Díez but neither side pressed the attack. The next day, she captured the merchant ship Nuestra Señora del Carmen (3,481 GRT); during the seizure, a group of Republican aircraft attacked the ship but inflicted no damage. She also came under fire from coastal artillery that day, but again emerged unscathed. The battleship returned to shell El Musel on 13 April in another failed attempt to sink José Luis Díez. During her patrols in March and April, she repeatedly encountered units of the Royal Navy that had been sent to ensure that British-flagged vessels safely passed through the Nationalist blockade.[18] A pair of these incidents took place on 30 April; while searching for blockade runners off Santander, España and Velasco encountered the British steamer SS Consett, which was fired upon by España and forced to sail away,[20] assisted by the destroyer HMS Forester.[21][22]
Later that morning, at around 07:00, the Nationalist vessels spotted the British steamer
Wreck
In May 1984, divers from the Spanish Navy's
Notes
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 268–273.
- ^ a b c d e Sturton, p. 378.
- ^ Fitzsimons, p. 856.
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 276–278, 282.
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez González, p. 283.
- ^ Reina Mercedes.
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez González, p. 284.
- ^ Alvarez, p. 51.
- ^ Alvarez, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 283–285.
- ^ Rodríguez González, p. 285.
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, pp. 438–439.
- ^ Rodríguez González, p. 286.
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 285–286.
- ^ Rodríguez González, p. 287.
- ^ Beevor, p. 64.
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 287–288.
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez González, p. 288.
- ^ Moreno de Alborán y de Reyna, p. 629.
- ^ Heaton, p. 51.
- ^ Fernández, p. 64.
- ^ Alcofar Nassaes 1976, p. 296.
- ^ Rodríguez González, pp. 288–289.
- ^ Rodríguez González, p. 289.
References
- Alcofar Nassaes, José Luis (1976). La marina italiana en la guerra de España (in Spanish). Editorial Euros. ISBN 978-84-7364-051-0.
- Alvarez, Jose (2001). The Betrothed of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion During the Rif Rebellion, 1920–1927. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-07341-0.
- Beevor, Antony (2000) [1982]. The Spanish Civil War. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-35281-4.
- Fernández, Carlos (2000). Alzamiento y guerra civil en Galicia: 1936–1939 [Uprising and Civil War in Galicia: 1936–1939] (in Spanish). La Coruña: Ediciós do Castro. ISBN 978-84-8485-263-6.
- Fitzsimons, Bernard (1978). "España". The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare. Vol. 8. Milwaukee: Columbia House. pp. 856–857. ISBN 978-0-8393-6175-6.
- Garzke, William; Dulin, Robert (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-101-0.
- Heaton, Paul Michael (1985). Welsh Blockade Runners in the Spanish Civil War. Risca: Starling Press. ISBN 978-0-9507714-5-8.
- Moreno de Alborán y de Reyna, Salvador (1998). La guerra silenciosa y silenciada: historia de la campaña naval durante la guerra de 1936–39 [The Silent and Silenced War: History of the Naval Campaign During the War of 1936–39] (in Spanish). Vol. 3. Madrid: Gráficas Lormo. ISBN 978-84-923691-0-2.
- "Reina Mercedes". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 23 September 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- Rodríguez González, Agustín Ramón (2018). "The Battleship Alfonso XIII (1913)". In Taylor, Bruce (ed.). The World of the Battleship: The Lives and Careers of Twenty-One Capital Ships of the World's Navies, 1880–1990. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. pp. 268–289. ISBN 978-0-87021-906-1.
- Sturton, Ian (1985). "Spain". In Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 375–382. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
Further reading
- Gibbons, Tony (1983). The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 978-0-86101-142-1.
- Lyon, Hugh; Moore, John Evelyn (1978). Encyclopedia of the World's Warships: A Technical Directory of Major Fighting Ships from 1900 to the Present Day. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 978-0-86101-007-3.
External links
- Launching of the battleship Alfonso XIII Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine – 1913 silent newsreel footage from the Filmoteca Española.
43°31′26″N 3°40′44″W / 43.52389°N 3.67889°W