España-class battleship
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España as she appeared in 1913
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | España |
| Builders: | Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, El Ferrol, Spain |
| Preceded by: | None |
| Succeeded by: | Reina Victoria Eugenia class (planned) |
| Built: | 1909–1921 |
| In commission: | 1913 to 1937 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 140 m (460 ft) o/a |
| Beam: | 24 m (79 ft) |
| Draft: | 7.8 m (26 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 854 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The España class was a series of three dreadnought battleships built for the Spanish Navy between 1909 and 1921. The construction of the ships, particularly the third vessel, were significantly delayed due to shortages of materiel supplied by Great Britain during World War I, particularly armament. The class comprised España (Spain), Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I. The three ships were the only Spanish dreadnoughts ever built. They were also the smallest battleships of the type constructed, owing to the weak Spanish economy. The ships were armed with eight 12-inch (305 mm) guns, but their small displacement—only 15,700 metric tons (15,500 long tons; 17,300 short tons)—forced the designers to compromise on armor protection and speed.
España, Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I served in the 1st Squadron of the Spanish Fleet, which became the Training Squadron in the 1920s. They all saw action during the Rif War in the early 1920s supporting Spanish ground forces in North Africa. España ran aground in August 1923 and the Navy could not salvage her; she instead broke up under tidal forces. Alfonso XIII was renamed España in 1931 after her namesake, King Alfonso XIII was forced into exile. The two surviving ships served on opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War, and both were destroyed during the conflict. España struck a naval mine laid by her own side in on 30 April 1937 and sank, and Jaime I was destroyed by an internal explosion in June 1937.
The Spanish public blamed the disastrous losses in the Spanish–American War of 1898 on the Navy, but recognized the need to modernize and rebuild it. The first attempt to rebuild the Navy came in the Fleet Plan of 1903, which called for a fleet centered on seven 15,000-metric-ton (15,000-long-ton) battleships and three 10,000-metric-ton (9,800-long-ton) cruisers. This plan proved to be far too ambitious for the weak Spanish economy, and an unstable Spanish parliament proved unable to provide funding. It was followed by the Fleet Plan of 1905, which proposed a fleet of eight 14,000 t (14,000 long tons) battleships along with a number of torpedo boats and submarines. It too fell victim to the weaknesses of the Spanish government. It was not until early 1907 that a strong cabinet led by Antonio Maura came to power that the question of naval construction was settled. The Fleet Plan of 1907 proposed three 15,000 MT battleships along with several destroyers, torpedo boats, and other craft. The construction plan was to last for eight years. Debates over the plan took place in the Cortes Generales (General Courts—the Spanish legislature) through November, with a final approval vote on 2 December. The Fleet Plan was formally signed into law on 7 January 1908.
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