Baleares′ stern in 1936 |
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| Career (Spain) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Baleares |
| Builder: | SECN, Ferrol |
| Laid down: | 15 August 1928 |
| Launched: | 20 April 1931 |
| Commissioned: | 28 December 1936 |
| Fate: | Sunk 6 March 1938 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Canarias-class heavy cruiser |
| Displacement: | 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) (standard) 13,283 long tons (13,496 t) (full load) |
| Length: | 193.9 m (636 ft 2 in) |
| Beam: | 19.52 m (64 ft 1 in) |
| Draft: | 6.51 m (21 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power: | 90,000 shp (67,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Parsons geared steam turbines 8 × Yarrow boilers 4 × shafts |
| Speed: | 33 kn (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
| Range: | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 800 |
| Armament: | 8 × 8 in (200 mm) guns (4x2) 8 × 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 12 × 40 mm (1.57 in) anti-aircraft guns 3 × 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft cannons 12 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedoes (4x3) |
| Armor: | Belt 2 in (5.1 cm) belt, 1–1.5 in (2.5–3.8 cm) deck, 4 in (10.2 cm) box around magazines, 1 in (2.5 cm) turrets, 1 in (2.5 cm) conning tower |
| Notes: | Capable of carrying two aircraft catapults, which were not installed |
Baleares was a Canarias-class heavy cruiser of the Spanish Navy. She was designed in Great Britain and was a modified version of the Royal Navy′s County-class cruiser. She was built in Spain by the Vickers-Armstrongs subsidiary Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, and saw service during the Spanish Civil War, when she was torpedoed and sunk by Republican destroyers in the Battle of Cape Palos.[1]
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In December 1936, Baleares was commissioned in an incomplete state, not mounting the fourth turret.[2][3] The turret was installed by June 1937.[3]
On 12 July 1937, Baleares encountered six Republican destroyers escorting two merchants near Valencia. After a brief exchange of fire, the Republican ships escaped.[1]
In the afternoon of 7 September 1937, Baleares encountered four Republican merchant ships escorted by the cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez and six destroyers in the Battle of Cape Cherchell. While the destroyers and merchants broke off the engagement, Libertad and Méndez Núñez engaged Baleares. the cruiser was damaged by several hits from Libertad in critical areas and a fire in the 120 mm (4.7 in) ammunition storeroom, but she successfully broke off the combat.[1]
In March 1938, Baleares—along with fellow Nationalist cruisers Canarias and Almirante Cervera—engaged the Republican cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez, accompanied by five destroyers, off Cartagena, in the Battle of Cape Palos. At around 02:15 on 6 March, the Nationalist and Republican cruisers engaged in an ineffective gunnery duel. During this gunnery duel, the Republican destroyers Sánchez Barcáiztegui, Lepanto, and Almirante Antequera all fired their torpedoes. Two or three of Lepanto′s torpedoes hit Baleares between the "A" and "B" turrets, detonating her forward magazine and sinking her. Out of her crew of 1,206, she had 765 seamen killed or missing, among them Vice-Admiral Manuel Vierna Belando, commander of the cruiser division.[1]
The British destroyers HMS Boreas and Kempenfelt rescued part of the survivors, although a Republican air attack interrupted the rescue and caused one British fatality.[4]
A monument to the crew killed in the sinking of Baleares has been erected in Palma de Mallorca. In the Basque town of Ondárroa, from which many of the crewmembers came, there are two monuments honoring Baleares, in the port and the cemetery.[1]
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