Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes
Reina Mercedes sometime prior to 1898
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| History | |
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.svg){kind=small} Spain
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| Name: | Reina Mercedes |
| Namesake: | Mercedes of Orleans, Queen Consort of Spain. |
| Builder: | Naval shipyard, Cartagena, Spain |
| Launched: | 9 September 1887 |
| Fate: | Scuttled as blockship night of 4–5 July 1898; captured and salvaged by US Navy |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Alfonso XII-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,042 tons |
| Length: | 278 ft 3 in (84.81 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft 4 in (13.21 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m) |
| Installed power: | 4,400 ihp (3,300 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 1-shaft compound |
| Speed: | 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) (designed); |
| Complement: | 370 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | none |
| Notes: |
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Reina Mercedes, was an Alfonso XII-class cruiser of the Spanish Navy.
During the Spanish–American War, Reina Mercedes was captured by the United States and later salvaged and commissioned into the U.S. Navy. For information about her characteristics and operational history in U.S. Navy service, see USS Reina Mercedes.
Reina Mercedes was built by the naval shipyard at Cartagena and launched on 9 September 1887. She had two funnels. Her main armament was built by Hontoria and sponson-mounted. Her five torpedo tubes all were fixed; two were forward, one was on each beam, and one was aft. Although unprotected and therefore lacking armor, she had 12 watertight compartments built in a French-style cellular system to help her resist flooding. She was designed for colonial service, with high speed and moderate armament, but in practice chronic machinery problems made her a relatively slow steamer.
Reina Mercedes spent her early years in Spanish waters as part of the Spanish Navy's Instructional Squadron. In 1893 she was transferred to the Caribbean, where she became flagship of Spanish naval forces operating in Cuban waters. On 29 May 1897, Reina Mercedes fired two shots at the American passenger liner SS Valencia off Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; she ceased fire after Valencia displayed her colors, and it was later discovered that the crew of Reina Mercedes was well aware of Valencia's identity, and fired the shots merely to make her display her colors.
When the Spanish–American War broke out in April 1898, Reina Mercedes was in the harbor at Santiago de Cuba, on Cuba's southeastern coast, awaiting repair, with seven of her ten boilers out of commission. Little of military significance happened at Santiago de Cuba until Vice Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete's squadron arrived there from Spain on 19 May 1898 to reinforce Spanish forces in the Caribbean. U.S. Navy forces hunting Cervera found his squadron there on the evening of 27 May 1898, and a 37-day blockade of the harbor ensued.
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