Spanish cruiser Don Juan de Austria
An unidentified Velasco-class (here called "Infanta Isabel-class") cruiser in U.S. waters during the 1880s or 1890s, showing the appearance of Don Juan de Austria
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.svg){kind=small} Spain
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| Name: | Don Juan de Austria |
| Namesake: | John of Austria |
| Builder: | Naval shipyard, Cartagena, Spain |
| Laid down: | 1883 |
| Launched: | 23 January 1887 |
| Completed: | 1888 or 1889 |
| Fate: | Sunk 1 May 1898; captured and salvaged by U.S. Navy |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Velasco-class unprotected cruiser |
| Displacement: | 1,152 tons |
| Length: | 210 ft 0 in (64.01 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft 0 in (9.75 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) maximum |
| Installed power: | 1,500 ihp (1,100 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 1-shaft, horizontal compound, 4-cylinder boilers |
| Sail plan: | Barque-rigged |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Complement: | 173 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Notes: | 200 to 220 tons of coal (normal) |
Don Juan de Austria was a Velasco-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy that fought in the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.
Don Juan de Austria was built at the naval shipyard at Cartagena, Spain. Her keel was laid in 1883 and the ship was launched on 23 January 1887. The cruiser was completed in 1888 or 1889. She had one rather tall funnel. The vessel had an iron hull and was rigged as a barque.
When the Spanish–American War broke out in April 1898, Don Juan de Austria part of the Pacific Squadron of Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón in Manila Bay.
At 1100 hours on 25 April 1898, Don Juan de Austria and five other ships of the squadron set out for Subic Bay, where Montojo hoped to take advantage of minefields and shore batteries in the likely event of an attack by U.S. Navy forces on his squadron. Arriving there, Montojo found that few of the mines had been laid and the shore batteries had not yet been mounted. At 1030 hours on 29 April 1898, Don Juan de Austria and Montojo's other ships departed Subic Bay to return to Manila Bay, where shore batteries could support Montojo's squadron and where the shallow water might reduce the loss of life if the Spanish ships were sunk. The squadron anchored later that day in Cañacao Bay off Sangley Point, in the lee of the Cavite Peninsula, about eight miles southeast of Manila. Don Juan de Austria made a quick trip to Manila to procure small craft, such as lighters, small boats, and barges, to be tied up alongside cruiser Castilla to protect her wooden hull from hostile gunfire.
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Wikipedia