Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes
Reina Mercedes sometime prior to 1898
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History | |
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Spain | |
Name | Reina Mercedes |
Namesake | Mercedes of Orleans, Queen Consort of Spain . |
Builder | Naval shipyard, Cartagena, Spain |
Launched | 9 September 1887[1] |
Fate | Scuttled as blockship night of 4–5 July 1898; captured and salvaged by US Navy |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Alfonso XII-class cruiser |
Displacement | 3,042 tons |
Length | 278 ft 3 in (84.81 m) |
Beam | 43 ft 4 in (13.21 m) |
Draft | 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m) |
Installed power | 4,400 ihp (3,300 kW) |
Propulsion | 1-shaft compound |
Speed | 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) (designed); |
Complement | 370 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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Armor | none |
Notes |
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Reina Mercedes, was an Alfonso XII-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy.
During the
Technical characteristics
Reina Mercedes was built by the naval shipyard at
Operational history
Reina Mercedes spent her early years in Spanish waters as part of the Spanish Navy's Instructional Squadron. In 1893 she was transferred to the Caribbean, where she became flagship of Spanish naval forces operating in Cuban waters. On 29 May 1897, Reina Mercedes fired two shots at the American passenger liner SS Valencia off Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; she ceased fire after Valencia displayed her colors, and it was later discovered that the crew of Reina Mercedes was well aware of Valencia's identity, and fired the shots merely to make her display her colors.[4]
When the
During the blockade, Reina Mercedes traded blows with the American blockaders. On 3 June 1898, the U.S. Navy attempted to trap the Spanish ships in the harbor by sinking the collier USS Merrimac in the entrance channel. Spanish shore batteries disabled Merrimac, and she drifted up the channel toward the anchored Spanish warships; Reina Mercedes, the armored cruiser Vizcaya, and the destroyer Pluton opened fire on Merrimac as well, and the collier soon sank in a position which did not block the channel. Reina Mercedes took aboard as prisoners of war the eight Americans who had been aboard Merrimac.
On 6 June 1898, the blockading U.S. warships bombarded the harbor, hitting Reina Mercedes 35 times, starting two fires aboard her, and killing her second-in-command, Commander Emilio Acosta y Eyermann,[5] the first Spanish naval officer to die in the war.[3]
By the beginning of July 1898,
On 3 July 1898, Cervera's squadron attempted its escape, and was completely destroyed in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. At about 2000 hours on 4 July 1898, Reina Mercedes, by now without most of her guns, slipped her moorings and proceeded into the channel. Just before midnight, the battleship USS Massachusetts spotted her and, together with the battleship USS Texas opened fire. Although Reina Mercedes took many hits, her scuttling crew stayed on course, dropped anchor, and detonated their scuttling charges, but Reina Mercedes drifted to the eastern edge of the channel before sinking, going down in a location that failed to block the channel.
Between 2 January 1899 and 1 March 1899, the U.S. Navy raised her and later put her into service as the disarmed receiving ship USS Reina Mercedes.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, page 384; The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes claims the launch date was 12 September 1887
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, page 384
- ^ a b The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes
- ^ "Valencia Arrives Safely in Port" (PDF). New York Times. 13 June 1897. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ Nofi, p. 163, claims that armored cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa took this damage and suffered the loss of her executive officer, but Cervera's papers, p. 101, and The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes both confirm it to have been Reina Mercedes
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- Cevera y Topete, Pascual, Ed. Office of Naval Intelligence War Notes No. VII: Information From Abroad: The Spanish–American War: A Collection of Documents Relative to the Squadron Operations in the West Indies, Translated From the Spanish. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1899.
- Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York, New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- ISBN 0-938289-57-8.
External links
- The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes
- Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Spanish Navy Ships: Reina Mercedes (Cruiser, 1887–1898)