Spanish cruiser Almirante Cervera

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Cruiser Almirante Cervera
History
Spain
NameAlmirante Cervera
NamesakeAdmiral Pascual Cervera y Topete
Laid down14 April 1923
Launched16 October 1925
Commissioned15 September 1928
Decommissioned31 August 1965
Nickname(s)Chulo del Cantábrico
FateScrapped 1966
General characteristics
Class and typeAlmirante Cervera-class cruiser
Displacement
  • 7,475 long tons (7,595 t) standard
  • 9,237 long tons (9,385 t) full load
Length579 ft (176 m)
Beam54 ft (16 m)
Draught16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Installed power8 Yarrow-type boilers, 80,000 hp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion4 shafts, Parsons-type geared turbines
Speed33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Complement566
Armament
  • As built
  • 8 × 6-inch (152 mm) Vickers-Carraca guns in 3 twin turrets and 2 single mountings
  • 4 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA guns
  • 2 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss 3-pdr light AA guns
  • 12 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes in triple tubes above water
  • 1940s refit[1]
  • 8 × 6-inch (152 mm) Vickers-Carraca guns in 3 twin turrets and 2 single mountings
  • 4 × 105 mm (4.1 in) AA guns
  • 4 × 37 mm (1.5 in) SK C/30 AA guns
  • 4 × 20 mm Flakvierling 38 AA guns
  • 12 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes in triple tubes above water
Armour

Almirante Cervera was a

Nationalist Fleet in the Spanish Civil War
.

Features

Her construction was authorized by the so-called Miranda law of 17 February 1915. The cruiser was launched in Ferrol in 1925 and scrapped in 1965. The ship was 172.62 metres (566 ft 4 in) in length, 16.61 metres (54 ft 6 in) in beam, and a draught of 5.03 metres (16 ft 6 in). Equipped with a main armament of eight guns of 152 mm (6 in), mounted in three twin turrets and two single mountings, and crewed by a complement of 566, Almirante Cervera belonged to the same class of two other cruisers of the Spanish Navy of her time, Galicia (Libertad from 1931 to 1939) and Miguel de Cervantes.[2]

Operational history

Civil War

Blockade of Northern Spain

Starting in October 1934, Almirante Cervera participated in the bombardment of coastal targets during the

Battle of Cape Espartel. While the cruiser Canarias sank the Republican destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz in the Alboran Sea after a few salvoes, Cervera engaged the destroyer Gravina along the northwestern coast of Morocco. Cervera fired her main artillery up to 300 times, but managed to hit Gravina only twice. The poor marksmanship of the cruiser enabled Gravina to break action and fleeing for safety to Casablanca. However, this action was decisive, as it opened the Straits to the insurgent's traffic.[12]

HMS Royal Oak, one of the British battleships that defended the international shipping in Biscay during the Spanish Civil War.

After this operation in the Mediterranean, she spent the following months searching and occasionally seizing foreign blockade runners in

Santander under the protection of the battleship Resolution.[18] The British merchant Gordonia was also intercepted and arrested on 9 July, but she was eventually released and escorted to open seas by British naval units.[19] On 14 July Almirante Cervera, assisted again by Galerna, seized the British cargo ship Molton off Santander, inside Spanish waters, despite the presence of the British battleship Royal Oak.[20]

Mediterranean operations

During the remainder of 1937, she sank two Republican coast guard units along with a merchant ship. She also shot down a bomber aircraft that had tried to dive-bomb her three times. The cruiser played a central role in the capture of the 9,900-ton government transport Marqués de Comillas.[21]

Aeroflot's Tupolev SB

On 17 February 1938 she departed from

Valencia. On 22 February she was attacked again by Republican aircraft: a first wave of biplanes Polikarpov R-Z Natacha of the Soviet Group 30 and then a second wave of Tupolev SB Katiuska. A 50 kg (110 lb) bomb ripped through the stern funnel and although the fuse failed to explode, 25 men were wounded and the machine room damaged. According to other reports, in addition to the 50 kg bomb, Cervera was hit by another bomb that killed 12 of her crew. The battered cruiser was bound for Palma again.[22][23]

On 6 March she was escorting a convoy and participated in the Battle of Cape Palos, where the heavy cruiser Baleares was torpedoed and sunk by Republican destroyers. She worked in the rescue of survivors from this warship.[24] This loss was somewhat counterbalanced by the commissioning of the refitted cruiser Navarra.[25]

On 23 October 1938 she seized the Soviet steamer Tsyurupa, which was confiscated by the Nationalists and renamed Castillo Villafranca.[26] Cervera continued her operations along the shrinking Republican coastline until the end of the war, but her role throughout the conflict was largely overshadowed by the heavier cruiser Canarias.[27]

Proposed modernization and last years

Shortly after the war, the Spanish minister of the Navy considered a project to modernize the three cruisers belonging to the class, through "project nº 133". The modernization was to include the addition of a

Decca radar. Though some of these upgrades were actually made to Almirante Cervera's sisters Galicia and Miguel de Cervantes, a lack of materials and financial support owing to World War II did not permit the same work to be performed on Almirante Cervera. Reduced to a part-time training ship, the cruiser was written off by the navy on 31 August 1965.[28]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Whitley 1995, p. 217-218
  2. ^ "Almirante Cervera" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 May 2000. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Cruceros ligeros clase Príncipe Alfonso" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 1, 2010.
  4. ^ "El Crucero Galicia". Escobén (in Spanish). 8 February 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  5. ^ Oliveira & Vázquez, p. 81
  6. ^ Salaya, p. 155
  7. ^ Thomas, p. 371
  8. ^ "British Yacht". Evening Post. Papers Past. 11 August 1936. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  9. ^ Oliveira & Vázquez, p. 78
  10. New York Times. 10 August 1936. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
    )
  11. ^ "British Yacht". The Canberra Times. Trove. 11 August 1936. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  12. ^ Cortada, p. 18
  13. ^ Heaton, p. 35
  14. ^ "Un barco Fantasma: El Andra" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 14, 2010.
  15. ^ Cable, p. 52
  16. ISBN 0-7190-0615-5
    .
  17. ^ "Britishers Run Blockade at Bilbao". The Telegraph. 27 April 1937. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Asturias Republicana". Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  19. ^ Cable, p. 146
  20. ^ Heaton, p. 56
  21. ^ Steamboat Bill: Journal of the Steamship Historical Society of America, 1994, p. 14
  22. ^ "Misiones, Acciones Y Servicios del Crucero Baleares" (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010.
  23. ^ "Model Armor" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
  24. ^ Peñalva, Jorge. "Combate de Cabo Palos" (in Spanish). revistanaval.com. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  25. ^ Gretton, p. 430
  26. ISBN 84-7140-150-9
    .
  27. ^ Gretton, preface
  28. ^ "Vida Marítima" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 8, 2008.

References

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spanish_cruiser_Almirante_Cervera&oldid=1185512316"