Spanish Navy

Spanish Navy
Spanish Navy Naval Ensign
Active	13th century - present
Country	Spain
Branch	Spanish Armed Forces
Type	Navy
Part of	Ministry of Defence
Garrison/HQ	List of Spanish Navy shore establishments
Anniversaries	16 July
Website	http://www.armada.mde.es
Commanders
Commander-in-chief of the Armada	General Admiral Manuel Rebollo García
Insignia
Badge
Naval jack

Spanish Navy
Components
Surface Fleet Armada Española Air Arm Submarine Service Navy Marines Special Operations
History
History of the Armada Future of the Armada
Ships
Current Fleet Future ships Historic ships
Personnel
Structure of the Armada Academy of Naval Engineers Officer naval academy Officer ranks of the Armada

The Spanish Navy (Spanish: Armada Española) is the maritime arm of the Spanish Military, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of America, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path from the Far East to America across the Pacific Ocean (Urdaneta's route). For three centuries the Spanish Navy formed part of a vast trade network that sailed the Pacific from Asia to America and the Atlantic from America to Europe escorting the galleon convoys. The Spanish Navy was the most powerful maritime force in the world in the 16th century to the mid-17th century. It was the third strongest in the 18th century and into the early decades of the 19th century.

As of 1987, the Armada has 47,300 personnel, including Marines, of which about 34,000 were conscripted^[1]. In 2002 all branches of the Spanish armed forces were professionalized^[2]. The main bases of the Spanish Navy are located in Rota, Ferrol, San Fernando and Cartagena. See also: Structure of the Spanish Navy in the 21st century.

The Spanish Navy today

Subordinate to the Spanish Chief of Naval Staff, stationed in Madrid, are four area commands: the Cantabrian Maritime Zone with its headquarters at El Ferrol on the Atlantic coast; the Straits Maritime Zone with its headquarters at San Fernando near Cádiz; the Mediterranean Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Cartagena; and the Canary Islands Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Operational naval units are classified by mission and assigned to either the combat forces, the protective forces, or the auxiliary forces. Combat forces are given the tasks of conducting offensive and defensive operations against potential enemies and for assuring maritime communications. Their principal vessels included two carrier groups, naval aircraft, transports, landing vessels, submarines, and missile-armed fast attack craft. Protective forces have the mission of securing maritime communications over both ocean and coastal routes, securing the approaches to ports and maritime terminals. Their principal components are destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and minesweepers. It also has marine units for the defense of naval installations. Auxiliary forces are responsible for transportation and provisioning at sea and has diverse tasks like coast guard operations, scientific work, and maintenance of training vessels. In addition to supply ships and tankers, the force included destroyers and a large number of patrol craft.

The largest vessel of the Armada is the aircraft carrier, Principe de Asturias (R11), which entered service in 1988 after completing sea trials. Built in Spain it was designed with a "ski-jump" takeoff deck. Its complement is twenty nine AV-8 Harrier II vertical (or short) takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft or sixteen helicopters designed for antisubmarine warfare and to support marine landings.

The carrier has an escort group of four Álvaro de Bazán class frigates, built in Spain, equipped with the AEGIS combat system and armed with Harpoon and Standard missiles. The first was commissioned in 2002. Also in the inventory are six F-80 Santa María class frigates, commissioned between 1986 and 1995, built in Spain. Six slightly smaller corvettes of Portuguese design were constructed in Spain between 1978 and 1982.

The submarine force consists of Franco-Spanish designs. Four of the Agosta 90B class submarine were constructed in Spain between 1983 and 1985. They are equipped with the submarine-launched version of the Exocet anti-ship missile. Four Daphné class submarines were completed between 1973 and 1975 and are now retired. The Spanish armada is constructing new S-80 class submarine with long range, conventional propulsion and new anti-detection technology .

The Marines have 11,500 troops and are divided into base defense forces and landing forces. One of the three base defense battalions is stationed with each of the Navy headquarters. "Groups" (midway between battalions and regiments) are stationed in Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Tercio (fleet - regiment equivalent) is available for immediate embarkation and based out of San Fernando. Its principal weapons include light tanks, armored personnel vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and TOW and Dragon antitank missiles.

History

Origins: The Middle Ages

Battle of La Rochelle, 1419

Spanish naval forces played a crucial role in Spanish history, particularly in the Early Modern Era. The roots of the modern Spanish navy date back to long before the discovery of the Americas and the formation of modern Spain as a unified state. In the late 14th century, the two kingdoms that were to found modern Spain, Aragon and Castile, already possessed, alongside Venice, Europe's greatest naval capacities. Aragon, vying with Venice, Genoa, Milan and the Angevins, used its naval resources to extend its trading and political influence in the Mediterranean, dominating its western reaches by the end of the 14th century. Castile used its naval capacities to conduct its reconquista operations against the Moors, capturing Cadiz in 1232 and also to help the French Crown against its enemies in the One Hundred Years War. In 1402 a Castilian expedition led by Juan de Bethencourt conquered the Canary Islands for Henry III of Castile. Both navies were frequently in battle with the Muslim slaver-raiders, the Barbary pirates. Punitive expeditions against these pirates led to the establishment of outposts along the North African Mediterranean coast, including Melilla (1497), Mazalquivir (1505), Oran (1509), Algiers (1510), Tripoli (1511), and the smaller Plazas de Soberania.

In the 15th century Castile entered into a race of exploration with Portugal that inaugurated the European age of discovery. In 1492 two caravels and one carrack, commanded by Admiral Christopher Columbus, arrived in America, on an expedition that sought a westward oceanic passage across the Atlantic, to the Far East. This began the era of trans-oceanic trade routes, pioneered by the Spanish and their fellow Iberian arch-rivals, the Portuguese.

The Habsburg Period

Following the discovery of America and the settlement of certain Caribbean islands such as Cuba, Spanish conquistadors Hernán Cortés and Pizarro were carried by the Spanish navy to the mainland, where they conquered Mexico and Peru respectively. The navy also carried explorers to the North American mainland, including Juan Ponce de León and Alvarez de Pineda who discovered Florida (1519) and Texas (1521) respectively. In 1519, Spain sent out the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, which was put in the charge of Ferdinand Magellan. The expedition was completed under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano. In 1565, a follow on expedition by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was carried from New Spain (Mexico) the Philippines by the navy in order to establish Spanish settlements there, as a base for trade with the Orient.

Among the Spanish navy's greatest admirals was Álvaro de Bazán. De Bazán's most famous action was the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Empire in 1571. Under Bazán's command, the Spanish Marines played a prominent role in this battle.

Battle of Lepanto, 1571

The Spanish Armada's defeat in 1588 led to a thorough reform of the navy. The years that followed proved to be highpoint of the Spanish navy's dominance. Beginning with the repulse of the Drake-Norris Expedition in 1589, the navy successfully dealt with the buccaneering against the Spanish treasure fleets, attacks upon its territories along the Spanish Main, in the Spanish West Indies, and continued to dominate the Atlantic sealanes.

From the 1570s the Dutch rebellion increasingly challenged Spanish sea power. They began to seriously threaten Spanish and Portuguese shipping from the early years of the 17th century. Most notable of these attacks was the Battle of Gibraltar in 1607, in which smaller Dutch vessels surprised large ocean going galleons at anchor in the confines of the bay. The Spanish established the Dunkirkers, whose primary aim was to intercept Dutch merchant ships and fishing trawlers. This naval war took on a global dimension with actions in the Caribbean and the Far East, notably around the Spanish controlled Philippines and other nearby archipelagos. The end of the Spanish navy's dominance was marked by the destruction of a large troop-carrying fleet intercepted by a Dutch fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639, although, for the most part it continued to be one of the leading navies, and the one with the greatest reach.

Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad, the biggest of its time

In 1650s, sensing the weakening of Spanish power, England's self-appointed Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, in an alliance with the French, initiated the Anglo-Spanish War (1654). He hoped of conquer strategically important parts of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. This aim proved too ambitious, as the Spanish navy maintained a strong presence in the Caribbean aided by a network of strongly fortified ports, including Havana, Veracruz, and Cartagena de Indias. The newly rebuilt English navy inflicted several defeats on the Spanish navy in the Caribbean and helped England seize the island of Jamaica. Other minor Caribbean islands were lost to other European powers and used to stage attacks on Spanish New World towns and shipping by pirates and privateers. However, the major Caribbean islands remained under Spanish control, with the Spanish navy successfully escorted treasure fleets to and from the Caribbean for another two hundred years.

In their last decades, the Spanish Habsburgs neglected naval affairs. These decades saw an explosion of piracy as the Spanish navy lost its efficiency. It was at this time that Spain ceded sovereignty to a large number of small islands in the Caribbean to other European powers. Despite its ruinous condition, the navy maintained the links between Spain, its American, Pacific and Mediterranean territories; often with the assistance of Dutch naval forces.

The Bourbon Period

San Felipe de Barajas Fortress in Cartagena (Colombia), the focus of the amphibous Battle of Cartagena de Indias.

After the Spanish War of Succession (1701–1714), the new Bourbon monarchy undertook a major reform of the Spanish navy, aided by French and Italian experts to assist in the process. One of its major tasks was to construct new ships to replace some of the older vessels.^[3] The other task was the re-organisation of its administrations. A "Secretaría" (Ministry) of the army and navy was established in 1714, which centralized the command and administration of the different fleets. A program of rigorous standardization, was introduced in ships, operations, and administration. It was the third most important navy in the world, while the French (Spain's ally during the reign of the Bourbons) vied with the British navy for dominance. The Spanish Navy played an indispensable role in important military opertaions in the War of Polish Succession, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and the American War of Independence, while carrying out its vital regular duties such as protecting galleon convoys across the Atlantic and the Pacific, as well as patrolling the coasts of its vast empire. In the Battle of Cartagena, one of the major actions in the War of Jenkins' Ear, a large British fleet was defeated by a smaller Spanish army and fleet in present day Colombia.

Eighteenth century naval tactics revolved around the protection of convoys, the suppression of piracy and privateering, and the support of amphibious military operations, usually in conjunction with the army. The universal beliefs of the day generally led to the avoidance of any attempt to conduct a strategically decisive naval battle, which was thought by most naval thinkers as being futile. For most of the 18th century the Spanish navy acquitted itself as a generally effective force until the political adversities brought about by the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Decline of an imperial navy

The 19th century saw the decline of the Spanish empire and the navy that served it. It suffered two great defeats that marked this decline. On October 21, 1805 forced into battle by Napoleon, the Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated in the Battle of Trafalgar. Of 15 ships that participated, only 6 immediately made it back to Cadiz. The one sided battle, which pitted 33 ships of the Franco-Spanish squadron against 27 British ships, exposed the futility of using inexperienced crews against the veteran British sailors. Many of the Spanish crews were land soldiers, recently press-ganged beggars and peasants, some not even having fired a cannon on board of a rolling ship. In contrast the British had well drilled crews. This was the result of the loss of many experienced sailors to an epidemic of yellow fever in 1802–04, as well a traditional cost saving measures, and the traditional avoidance of battle. The French admiral ignored the pleas of the Spanish captains - who had extensive experience in breaking blockades and held no illusions about the state of their fleet's ability to fight a pitched battle. They recommended waiting for better conditions in which to leave the port. The British admiral's daring tactics took full advantage of the skill disparities of the opposing squadrons. Some 45 ships of the line (of about 150 vessels in total) remained in port until they joined the anti-Napoleonic coalition in 1808. Although it was still the third most important navy in the world in the years immediately following Trafalgar, the chaos of Spain's Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic years resulted in ships being badly run down, training to be neglected and its administration and command to be over-run by corruption.

In 1898 a Spanish fleet was destroyed as it tried to break an American blockade in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba ^[4], during the Spanish-American war, Admiral Cervera's squadron was annihilated in a heroic but clearly hopeless charge to break a powerful American blockade off Cuba. In the Philippines, a squadron, made up of ageing revenue cutters and some obsolete cruisers, had already been sacrificed in a token gesture in Manila Bay.

At the end of the 19th century the Spanish Navy adopted the Salve Marinera, a hymn to the Virgin Mary as Stella Maris, as its official anthem.

20th and 21st centuries

A port bow view of the Spanish Navy, F 100 Class Frigate, Almirante Juan de Borbón (F102)

SPS Principe de Asturias Aircraft Carrier

During the Rif War in Morocco, the Spanish navy conducted operations along the coast, including the Alhucemas Landing in 1925. The navy became divided in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Two coastal battleships, one heavy cruiser, one large destroyer and half a dozen submarines and auxiliary vessels were lost in the course of the conflict.

After the development of the Baleares class frigates based on the US Navy's Knox class, the Spanish Navy embraced the American naval doctrine instead of the British one.^[5]

Spain is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The Armada Española has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations, from SFOR to Haiti and other locations around the world. Today's Armada is a modern navy with two carrier groups, a modern aircraft carrier, a new strategic amphibious ship, modern frigates (F-100 class) with the Aegis combat system, F-80 class frigates, minesweepers, new S-80 class submarines, amphibious ships and various other ships, including oceanographic research ships.

The Armada's special operations and unconventional warfare capability is embodied in the Naval Special Warfare Command (Mando de Guerra Naval Especial), which is under the direct control of the Admiral of the Fleet. Two units operate under this command:

• The Special Operations Unit (Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE)): Special operations unit trained in maritime counter-terrorism, combat diving and swimming, coastal infiltration, ship boarding, direct action, and special reconnaissance.
• The Combat Diver Unit (Unidad Especial de Buceadores de Combate (UEBC)): Specialized combat diving unit trained in underwater demolitions and hydrographic reconnaissance.

Armada officers receive their education at the Spanish Naval Academy (ENM). They are recruited through two different methods:

• Militar de Complemento: Similar to the U.S. ROTC program, students are college graduates who enroll in the Navy. They spend a year at the Naval Academy and then are commissioned as Ensigns. This path is growing prestigious.
• Militar de Carrera: Students spend five years at the ENM, receiving a university degree-equivalent upon graduation.

Ranks

The officer ranks of the Spanish Navy are as follows below, (for a comparison with other NATO ranks, see Ranks and Insignia of NATO).

NATO Code	OF-10	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1		OF(D)	Student Officer
Spain
	Capitán General	Almirante General	Almirante	Vicealmirante	Contraalmirante	Capitán de Navío	Capitán de Fragata	Capitán de Corbeta	Teniente de Navío	Alférez de Navío| Alférez de Fragata		Guardiamarina	Alumno
English equivalent	Captain General	General Admiral	Admiral	Vice Admiral	Rear Admiral	Ship-of-the-Line Captain	Frigate Captain	Corvette Captain	Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant	Ensign		Midshipman	Alumnus

Current Fleet

See: List of active Spanish Navy ships

Organization

• The Fleet (Headquarter located at Rota)
  • Projection Group located at Rota
    • 1 Aircraft Carrier R-11 Principe de Asturias class
    • 2 LPD L-50 Galicia class
    • 1 LST L-42 Pizarro, Newport class
    • 1 Fleet oiler A-11 Marques de la Ensenada class
    • 1 Replenishment ship A-14 Patiño class (located at Ferrol)
  • 41st Escort Squadron located at Rota
    • 6 Frigates F-80 Santa María class
  • 31st Escort Squadron located at Ferrol
    • 5 Frigates F-100 Alvaro de Bazán class
  • Submarine flotilla located at Cartagena.
    • 4 Submarines S-70 Galerna class
  • MCM flotilla located at Cartagena
    • 1 MCM support ship M-10 Descubierta Modified class
    • 6 Minehunters M-30 Segura class

Future ships

See: List of future Spanish Navy ships

Historic ships

See: List of retired Spanish Navy ships

Armada Española Air Arm

See: Armada Española Air Arm

Anthem

See: Salve Marinera

References

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• http://www.todoababor.es/ (Spanish Naval History)
• History of Spanish Mariners
• http://www.revistanaval.com/
• http://www.losbarcosdeeugenio.com/principal_es.html
• El Arma Submarina Española (unofficial website)
• http://www.fotosdebarcos.com/ (Spanish Navy Section, see Armada Española with all kind of Spanish navy ships)
• Spanish Navy page on Andrew Toppan's Haze Gray and Underway
• Spain Plans to Upgrade Navy's Projection Group
• Foro Militar General (unofficial forum)
• Warships of the Spanish Civil War
• BUQUESDEGUERRA.TK, Spanish website about warships