Reina Victoria Eugenia-class battleship

The Reina Victoria Eugenia class was a class of three battleships of the Spanish Navy authorized as the Plan de la Segunda Escuadra under the Navy Law of 1913. The class, as well as the lead ship, were named for King Alfonso XIII's English queen consort, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. The other two ships were classified as "B" and "C". It was supposed to be designed by Vickers-Armstrongs, and built by John Brown. The ships were never built due to Britain's involvement in World War I, which halted all foreign projects being constructed in British yards.

Background

Following disastrous losses in the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain lacked the money to rebuild its navy, so it was not until the Navy Law of 7 January 1908 that a new program authorizing three new battleships, the España class (España, Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I), along with other ships, was passed. The delay enabled Spain to take advantage of experience gained by Britain with the world's first commissioned dreadnought, HMS Dreadnought, and by the United States with its first dreadnought, USS South Carolina. As Spain was incapable of building the España class herself due to a lack of resources, Armstrongs were contracted for the design and John Brown for the construction of the shipyard and ships themselves.^[1]

A second Navy Law was passed in 1912 named the Plan de la Segunda Escuadra (Second Squadron Plan). It called for, among several other ships, three dreadnoughts to supplement the España class. These dreadnoughts were named the Reina Victoria Eugenia class. They were to be in laid down in 1914 and 1915 and completed around 1920.^[2]

Design history

The class consisted of three ships, Reina Victoria Eugenia, the lead ship, and two others named B and C. The lead ship was named after King Alfonso's English wife.^[2] They were designed by Vickers-Armstrongs and were planned to displace 21,000 long tons (21,000 t) with a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph).^[3] Early plans for the type called for an armament of four twin 15-inch (380 mm) guns; however, financial difficulties resulted in the selection of an armament of four twin 13.5-inch (340 mm) guns instead, which still would have had a longer range than most contemporary ships.^[3] The secondary armament would have been 20 6-inch (150 mm) guns.^[2] Other specifications of the ships were never decided upon, although it is probable that they would have resembled contemporary British ships, with two closely spaced funnels along with super-imposed turrets fore and aft.^[4]

As with the España-class battleships, significant technical assistance from Britain would have been required. The outbreak of the First World War led to both the delay of the España class and the cancellation of the Reina Victoria Eugenia project. Since Spain did not sign the Washington Naval Treaty, whose signatories were forced to limit their ships to no more than 35,000 tons, the class was available for future Spanish governments to construct, either as a main ship or as support to other planned designs, like a possible Littorio-class battleship or a ship based on the Gneisenau. However, the class was never constructed.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• Fitzsimmons, Bernard (1978). The Illustrated encyclopedia of 20th century weapons and warfare 8. Columbia House. ISBN 9780839361756. 
• Garzke, William; Dulin, Robert (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. London, England: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870211013. 
• Sturton, Ian, ed. (1987). Conway's All The World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London, England: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9780851774480. 
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1921. London, England: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 9780851772455.