This is a list of Spanish battleships and monitors, covering the period from 1874 and the construction of the first modern vessels of these types during the Third Carlist War, through the 1940s when proposals were made for the construction of fast battleships and for the purchase of gun turrets from Germany for use in "large cruisers" - battlecruisers -, although only two monitor type vessels and four battleships were ever actually constructed for the Spanish Navy, while a pair of old armoured frigates were reconstructed into coast defense battleships.
Although a number of ironclads and armoured frigates had served in the Armada since the 1860s, Spain was a latecomer to the construction of modern battleships, with the first and only "pre-Dreadnought" type ship to be operated by the Spanish Navy, Pelayo, being constructed in France in the late 1880s. Plans for additional ships of the type were made, but technical difficulties with the ship, along with a series of military and financial crisises, resulted in Pelayo remaining the only ship of her class.
Despite the decline of Spain as a naval power by the start of the dreadnought era, three ships of the dreadnought type - in fact, the smallest dreadnoughts to be built, essentially being oversized and overgunned coast defense ships - were ordered by the Spanish Navy in 1908. However, construction delays caused by the First World War disrupting delivery of guns from England resulted in the completion of the class being delayed to the point where they were thoroughly obsolete by the time of the final ship being commissioned. A follow-up, more modern class of battleships was cancelled outright as a result of the conflict and the resulting inability to receive British assistance in construction.[1]
Following the end of the First World War, occasional plans for the construction of new battleships were proposed, including a type deriving from England's powerful Nelson class battleships. However, nothing had come of these efforts by the time of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Following the victory of Francisco Franco's Nationalists in that conflict, in which both of the surviving Spanish battleships - one serving on the side of the Nationalists, the other on that of the Republicans - had been destroyed, proposals for the construction of four fast battleships to an Italian design, as well as the construction of "large cruisers" - the only battlecruiser designs proposed for or by Spain - were made. However, the outbreak of the Second World War resulted in these plans being disrupted.
By the end of the Second World War, the aircraft carrier had rendered the battleship obsolete,[2] and no further battleship or large cruiser types were proposed for the Spanish Navy.
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Following the outbreak of the Third Carlist War, two vessels, Puigcerdá and Duque de Tetuán, were ordered in 1874 by the Spanish Navy for service in the coastal defense role, and to provide fire support for troops ashore. Duque de Tetuán was officially designated as a floating battery, while Puigcerdá was the only true monitor ever to be operated by the Spanish Navy.[3] Although neither ship proved to be very successful,[3][4] both provided valuable service, and both, despite having been previously retired, were recommissioned and employed in the defense of Spain's coast during the Spanish-American War. After the war, both vessels being thoroughly obsolete, they were decommissioned quickly, Duque de Tetuán being scrapped,[5] and Puigcerdá being sold off to become a commercial vessel,[3] being renamed Anita and serving as a cargo ship on the Niger River.[6]
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Duque de Tetuán | 1 × 16 cm (6.3 in) 4 x 12 cm (4.7 in) |
703 t (692 long tons) | 2 screws, vertical compound engines, 6 kn (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) | 1873 | 1874 | Stricken 1897; recommissioned 1898; scrapped 1900[5] |
| Puigcerdá | 2 × 16 cm (6.3 in) 2 x 12 cm (4.7 in)[7] |
553 t (544 long tons) | 2 screws, vertical compound engines, 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)[3] | September 1874 | 1875 | Decommissioned 1890; recommissioned 1898; sold off 1900.[3] |
In 1896, the old armoured frigates Numancia - the first ironclad warship to circumnavigate the world - and Vitoria, both constructed in the 1860s, were taken in hand at Toulon for reconstruction into Acorazado guardacostas - coast defense battleships. Their sailing masts were removed and new boilers were installed, and the ships were comprehensively rearmed.[8] Unable to be recommissioned in time for service in the Spanish-American War, the two ships served as training vessels after their conversion, and both ships had been removed from the navy list and sold for scrap by 1912, with Numancia surviving to around 1920 before finally being broken up.[9]
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Numancia | 4 × 16 cm (6.3 in) 6 x 14 cm (5.5 in)[10][N 1] |
7,500 t (7,400 long tons) | 1 screw, 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)[10] | September 1862 | December 1864 | Reconstructed 1897-98;[10] sold for scrap 1912. |
| Vitoria | 6 × 16 cm (6.3 in) 6 x 14 cm (5.5 in)[10][N 2] |
7,250 t (7,140 long tons) | 1 screw, Penn trunk engine, 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)[8] | 15 January 1863 | 15 November 1867 | Reconstructed 1897-98;[10] sold for scrap 1911. |
The only true "pre-Dreadnought" battleship of the Spanish Navy, Pelayo was a barbette ship, and was originally intended to be the first of a class of new battleships. Due to the Caroline Islands crisis and the design's lack of speed and endurance, however, it was decided to construct armoured cruisers of the Infanta Maria Teresa class instead.[11]
Based on the design of the French Marceau class battleships, although the design was modified to reduce the ship's draft to allow for passage through the Suez Canal,[11] she was originally completed with sails, although they were quickly removed. Reconstructed in 1897, she was rushed back into service for the Spanish-American War with the refit incomplete, and spent most of the conflict guarding the Spanish coast, apart from an abortive attempt to reinforce the Philippines as part of Admiral de Camara's squadron.[11] Finally seeing combat in the shore bombardment role in the Second Rif War, Pelayo was refit again in 1910, but grounded badly in 1912, and after repairs spend the remainder of her service life as a gunnery training ship, until finally being stricken from the navy list in 1922[12] and scrapped in 1925.[11]
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Pelayo | 2 × 32 cm (13 in) 2 x 28 cm (11 in) |
9,745 t (9,591 long tons) | 2 screws, vertical compound engines, 16.7 kn (30.9 km/h; 19.2 mph)[11] | April 1885 | Summer 1888 | Disarmed 1923; scrapped 1925[13] |
Authorised under the Navy Law of 1908 and known as the Primera Escuadra,[1] the España class were the first and only Spanish dreadnoughts, and also the smallest of that type of ship ever to be built.[13] Considered by some to be more "Dreadnought-type coast-defense ships" than pure battleships,[1] the three ships of the class were built in Ferrol by SECN, the lead ship being completed in under four years, but the onset of World War I resulted in delays to the remaining two ships, and especially the third, as equipment and armament deliveries from England were disrupted due to the war.[14]
Obsolete before completion due to the rapid progress of naval technology, the Españas saw combat service in the Rif Wars and the Spanish Civil War, España being wrecked on the Moroccan coast in 1923,[13] Alfonso XIII being renamed España following the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931.[14] In the mid 1930s, it was proposed that the two surviving ships of the class be rebuilt as "pocket battleships", including a lengthening of the hull and rearranging of the turrets to a centreline alignment.[1] By 1936, a more modest rebuild was proposed, including conversion to oil firing, but the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War put this plan to rest.[15]
The remaining two ships of the class, one operating on each side, were both lost in the Spanish Civil War.[13] España (ex-Alfonso XIII), serving the Nationalist side, struck a mine in April 1937 and sunk, while Jaime I, also known as Jaime Primero,[12] fighting as part of the Republican navy, suffered an internal explosion at Cartagena in June 1937, being scuttled as a precautionary measure afterwards. The wreck was raised the following year before being scrapped in 1939.[15]
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| España | 8 × 30.5 cm (12.0 in) | 15,700 t (15,500 long tons) | 4 screws, Parsons steam turbines, 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph) | 5 December 1909 | 23 October 1913 | Ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas 26 August 1923; broken up on site[13] |
| Alfonso XIII | 8 × 30.5 cm (12.0 in) | 15,700 t (15,500 long tons) | 4 screws, Parsons steam turbines, 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph) | 23 February 1910 | 16 August 1915 | Renamed España in 1931. Struck mine and sunk 30 April 1937[13] |
| Jaime I | 8 × 30.5 cm (12.0 in) | 15,700 t (15,500 long tons) | 4 screws, Parsons steam turbines, 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph) | 5 February 1912 | 20 December 1921 | Sunk by internal explosion 17 June 1937; refloated; stricken 3 July 1939[13] |
Authorised as the Plan de la Segunda Escuadra under the Navy Law of 1913, the three ships of the Reina Victoria Eugenia-class, named for King Alfonso's queen consort and designated ships "A", "B" and "C" (only "A" having a formally proposed name),[16] were designed by Vickers-Armstrongs[17] and were planned to displace 21,000 long tons (21,000 t) with a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph).[1] Early plans for the type called for an armament of 15-inch (380 mm) guns,[17] however financial difficulties resulted in the selection of an armament of eight 340-millimetre (13 in) weapons instead.[1] As significant technical assistance from Britain would have been required for construction of the class,[17] the outbreak of the First World War led to the cancellation of the project.[1]
Following the end of the First World War, Spain did not participate in the Washington Naval Conference which limited naval, and especially battleship, construction among its signatories.[1] Despite this, battleships of the 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) displacement class were considered by the Royal Spanish Navy in the early 1920s, while in the early 1930s proposals for a "reduced Nelson type" ship were proposed, however nothing came of either project.[1]
After his victory in the Spanish Civil War, Generalissmo Franco's plans for the Spanish Navy included the acquisition of four modern battleships, and a variation on the Italian Vittorio Veneto class battleships - also known as the Littorio class - was considered the favored candidate.[14] In late 1939, a Spanish mission to Italy received assurances of technical support for the construction of ships of the class in Spanish yards, and a slipway of sufficient size to construct two ships at a time was built at Ferrol.[18] However, Italy's entry into the Second World War, combined with the limited resources of Spain, led to the cancellation of the project.[18]
A "super-Washington" cruiser type was also projected as part of Franco's naval expansion plans, with some designs proposed for the type calling for an armament of six 12-inch (300 mm) guns; alternatively, some have speculated that the Spanish desired to purchase the two triple 283-millimetre (11.1 in) turrets that were available following the decision by the German Kriegsmarine to rebuild the damaged battleship Gneisenau with twin 381-millimetre (15.0 in) weapons. However, the war situation meant that nothing was to come of this project either.[19]