Spanish cruiser Aragon


An Aragon-class (here called Castilla-class) cruiser in the 1880s or 1890s, showing the appearance of Aragon
Career
Name: Aragon
Namesake: The Kingdom of Aragon
Ordered: January 1869
Builder: Naval shipyard at Cartagena, Spain
Laid down: 2 May 1869
Launched: 31 July 1879
Completed: 1880
Decommissioned: mid-1890s
Fate: Hulked 1896. Either sold for scrap 1900[1] or stricken ca. 1905 [2]
General characteristics
Class and type: Aragon-class
Type: unprotected cruiser
Displacement: 3,289 tons
Length: 236 ft 0 in (71.93 m)
Beam: 44 ft 0 in (13.41 m)
Draft: 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) maximum
Installed power: 1,400 ihp
Propulsion: 1-shaft, 3-cylinder, horizontal compound
Sail plan: barque-rigged
Speed: 14 knots
Range: 1,660 nautical miles (3,074 km)
Complement: 392 officers and enlisted
Armament: As completed, included 8 x 8 inch (203 mm) 180 pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns
In 1885:
6 x 6.4 inch (163 mm) guns
/2 x 87nbsp:mm guns
4 x 75 mm guns
10 x machine guns
2 × 14 inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor: none
Notes: 460 tons of coal (normal)

Aragon was an Aragon-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy in the late 19th century.

Contents

Technical Characteristics

Aragon was built at the naval shipyard at Cartagena, Spain. Her construction as an armored corvette with a central battery ironclad design began on 2 May 1869, with plans to give her 890 tons of armor and 500 mm (19.7 inches) of armor at the waterline. Political events delayed her construction. In 1870, her design was changed to that of an unprotected cruiser or wooden corvette,[3] and she finally was launched in this form on 31 July 1879 and completed in 1880.[4] Her original conception as an armored ship and the change to an unarmored one during construction left her with an overly heavy wooden hull that was obsolescent by the time of her launch.[5]

Designed for colonial service,[6] she had two funnels and was rigged as a barque.[5] Her machinery was manufactured by the John Penn Company of Greenwich, United Kingdom.[7] The original main battery of Armstrong-built 8-inch (203-mm) guns was obsolescent when she was completed, and were quickly replaced with more modern Hontoria-built 6.4-inch (163-mm) guns (a heavier main battery than that carried by her two sisters Castilla and Navarra), at least four of which were mounted in sponsons.[5]

Operational history

In the 1890s, Aragon was assigned to the Cadiz Naval Group. She went out of service in the mid-1890s, became a floating hulk in 1896. Sources differ on her ultimate fate; either she was sold for scrap in 1900[7] or sticken ca. 1905[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Per The Spanish American War Centennial Website: Spanish Wooden Cruisers
  2. ^ Per Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, p. 383
  3. ^ The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Spanish Wooden Cruisers and The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Castilla describe the lengthy design issues of the Aragon class.
  4. ^ The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Spanish Wooden Cruisers describes the lengthy design issues of the Aragon class.
  5. ^ a b c d Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, p. 383
  6. ^ The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Castilla explains that the class's design was for coloial service
  7. ^ a b The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Spanish Wooden Cruisers

References

External links

Aragon · Navarra · Castilla