Alfonso XII-class cruiser

	Reina Mercedes
Class overview
Name:	Alfonso XII class
Builders:	Cartagena and Ferrol, Spain
Operators:	Spanish Navy
Built:	1881–1891
In commission:	1891–1900
Planned:	3
Completed:	3
Lost:	2
Retired:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Unprotected cruiser
Displacement:	3,042 tons
Length:	278 ft (85 m)
Beam:	43 ft (13 m)
Draft:	20 ft 0 in (6.10 m) maximum
Speed:	17 kn (31 km/h)
Endurance:	500 tons of coal (normal), [1] ; 720 tons of coal (maximum) [2] ;
Complement:	370
Armament:	6 × 6.4-inch (163 mm) guns; 8 × 6-pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing guns; 6 × 3-pounder Hotchkiss revolvers; 5 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes ;

Last updated March 08, 2019

The Alfonso XII class of unprotected cruisers was a series of three ships built during the 1880s for service with the Spanish Navy. They were named for a Spanish king and two Spanish queens.

An unprotected cruiser was a type of naval warship in use during the late Victorian or pre-dreadnought era. The name was meant to distinguish these ships from “protected cruisers” which had become accepted in the 1880s. A protected cruiser did not have side armor on its hull like a battleship or “armored cruiser” but had only a curved armored deck built inside the ship – like an internal turtle shell – which prevented enemy fire penetrating through the ship down into the most critical areas such as machinery, boilers, and ammunition storage. An unprotected cruiser lacked even this level of internal protection. The definitions had some gray areas because individual ships could be built with a protective deck that did not cover more than a small area of the ship, or was so thin as to be of little value. An unprotected cruiser was generally cheaper and less effective than a protected cruiser, while a protected cruiser was generally cheaper and less effective than an armored cruiser.

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, the most famous being the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and the first global circumnavigation by Magellan and Elcano. For several centuries, it played a crucial logistical role in the Spanish Empire and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Europe and across the Pacific Ocean between Asia and the Americas.

Description

The Alfonso XII class had three masts and two funnels. They were unarmored, but their hulls were built with a French-style cellular system with 12 watertight bulkheads.^[1] The Ferrol-built ships were the first two steel-hulled cruisers built in that yard.^[3] The main guns were built by Hontoria and mounted in sponsons. The torpedo tubes were fixed; one was on each beam, two were forward, and one was aft. The class took a long time to complete; the lead unit was delayed for five years by material shortages and took ten years from keel-laying to commissioning.^[1]

Hontoria is one of 28 parishes in Llanes, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain.

A torpedo tube is a cylinder shaped device for launching torpedoes.

The ships were designed for colonial service, and were not intended to fight the armored and heavily armed ships they would meet in the Spanish–American War. They were plagued by machinery and boiler problems, and proved to be much slower steamers than their designers had intended.^[4]

The Spanish–American War was fought between the United States and Spain in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. U.S. acquisition of Spain's Pacific possessions led to its involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately in the Philippine–American War.

History

After early service in home waters, the Alfonso XII-class cruisers were assigned to colonial duty in the Caribbean and Philippines. Thanks to machinery and boiler problems, only one was seaworthy during the Spanish–American War, and two were lost during the conflict, one of the sunken ships being salvaged and put into service in the United States Navy. The lone survivor in Spanish service was decommissioned soon after the war.^[4]

The Caribbean is a region of The Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.

The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second largest and second most powerful air force in the world.

Ships in class

Alfonso XII

Named for a Spanish king and laid down in 1881, Alfonso XII was delayed during construction for five years by material shortages and not completed until 1891.^[1] She was immobilized at Havana, Cuba, by machinery and boiler trouble by 1897, and was anchored only 200 yards (180 m) from the battleship USS Maine when the latter exploded in February 1898. Unable to get underway, she took no part in the ensuing Spanish–American War except to land her guns for use in coastal defenses. She was decommissioned in 1900, the last survivor of the class in Spanish service.^[5]

Alfonso XII, was an Alfonso XII-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy.

Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial center of Cuba. The city has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 781.58 km² (301.77 sq mi) – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometres (42,800 sq mi). The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometres (40,543 sq mi), and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants.

Reina Cristina

Named for a Spanish queen, Reina Cristina was launched in 1887. After early service in Spanish waters, she was sent to the Philippines, where she supported Spanish actions against Philippine insurgents.^[6] She was flagship of the squadron of Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron at Manila Bay and the only member of her class that was seaworthy when the Spanish–American War broke out, and was sunk in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.^[7]

Reina Cristina was an Alfonso XII-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy which fought in the Battle of Manila Bay.

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known.

Manila Bay is a natural harbour which serves the Port of Manila, in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and its neighbouring countries, becoming the gateway for socio-economic development even prior to Spanish occupation. With an area of 1,994 km² (769.9 sq mi), and a coastline of 190 km (118.1 mi), Manila Bay is situated in the western part of Luzon and is bounded by Cavite and Metro Manila on the east, Bulacan and Pampanga on the north, and Bataan on the west and northwest. Manila Bay drains approximately 17,000 km² (6,563.7 sq mi) of watershed area, with the Pampanga River contributing about 49% of the freshwater influx. With an average depth of 17 m (55.8 ft), it is estimated to have a total volume of 28.9 billion cubic metres. Entrance to the bay is 19 km (11.8 mi) wide and expands to a width of 48 km (29.8 mi). However, width of the bay varies from 22 km (13.7 mi) at its mouth and expanding to 60 km (37.3 mi) at its widest point.

Reina Mercedes

Named for a Spanish queen, Reina Mercedes was launched in 1887. After early service in Spanish waters, she was sent to the Caribbean, where she became flagship of Spanish naval forces in Cuban waters. She was immobilized by boiler trouble at Santiago de Cuba when the Spanish–American War began, and was trapped there along with the squadron of Vice Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete.^[8] After the annihilation of Cervera's squadron in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, Reina Mercedes was scuttled as a blockship in the harbor entrance on the night of 4–5 July 1898.^[9] She was soon salvaged by the United States Navy and served for many years in the United States as the unarmed receiving ship USS Reina Mercedes.^[8]

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References

Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York, New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
Nofi, Albert A. The Spanish–American War, 1898. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania:Combined Books, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-938289-57-8.

External links

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[Conway_p._384-1] 1 2 3 4 Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, p. 384

[2] Nofi, p. 320

[3] The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Alfonso XII; The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Cristina

[ReferenceA-4] 1 2 The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Alfonso XII; The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Cristina; The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes

[5] The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Alfonso XII

[6] The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Cristina

[7] Nofi, p. 23

[spanamwar.com-8] 1 2 The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Reina Mercedes

[9] Nofi, p. 195