Spanish cruiser Lepanto

For other ships with the same name, see Spanish ship Lepanto.

Lepanto, ca. 1900.
History
Spain
Name	Lepanto
Namesake	Battle of Lepanto
Builder	Arsenal de Cartagena, Cartagena,  Spain
Laid down	1 October 1886
Launched	16 November 1893
Completed	26 January 1899
Commissioned	29 January 1899
Decommissioned	3 October 1908
Fate	Sold 1911 Scrapped
General characteristics
Class & type	Reina Regente-class protected cruiser
Displacement	4,826 tons
Length	99.9 m (327 ft 9 in)
Beam	15.24 m (50 ft 0 in)
Draught	7.31 m (24 ft 0 in)
Installed power	11,500  hp (8,576  kW) (nominal)
Propulsion	Two triple expansion steam engines, two  screws
Speed	20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) (designed) 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (trials)
Complement	420
Armament	As built: 4 x 1 - 200 mm (7.9 in)/35 Hontoria M1883 6 x 1 - 4.7-inch (119 mm)/35 Hontoria M1883 6 x 1 - 57 mm (2.2 in)/42 Nordenfelt 2 x machine guns 5 x torpedo tubes (2 bow, 2 beam, 1 aft)
Armour	120–80 mm (4.7–3.1 in) (main deck) 25 mm (1 in) (fore and aft)

Lepanto was a Reina Regente class protected cruiser in commission in the Spanish Navy from 1899 to 1908. ^{[1] [2]} She was named for the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

Characteristics

Lepanto in 1899.

Lepanto was 99.9 metres (327 ft 9 in) long, with a beam of 15.24 metres (50 ft 0 in) and a draught of 7.31 metres (24 ft 0 in). She displaced 4,826 tons. She had two triple expansion steam engines rated at 11,500 nominal horsepower (8,576 kilowatts) that drove two screws.

Construction and commissioning

Lepanto was the third and last Reina Regente class protected cruiser. She was laid down on 1 October 1886 at the Arsenal de Cartagena in Cartagena, Spain, and launched on 16 November 1893. She was completed on 26 January 1899 and ran engine trials on the nautical measured mile off Cádiz, Spain that day, managing only 15 knots (28 kilometres per hour; 17 miles per hour), far below her designed speed of 20 knots (37 kilometres per hour; 23 miles per hour). She nonetheless was commissioned on 29 January 1899. ^[2]

Service history

After putting to sea only a few times in her original configuration, Lepanto was redesignated for use as a gunnery and torpedo training ship. She was reclassified as a second-class cruiser and her 200-millimetre (7.9 in) guns were replaced with 160-millimetre (6.3 in) guns removed from the armoured frigates Numancia and Vitoria during their conversion into coastal defense ships. ^[2]

In her new role, Lepanto made voyages in the Mediterranean Sea to train midshipmen, gunners, and torpedomen. Sailors assigned to her began wearing a distinctive cap with a ribbon bearing the ship's name; the use of a cap ribbon to identify sailors' postings later became widespread, and the ribbon became known in the Spanish Navy as the "Lepanto ribbon" or simply "Lepanto." ^[2]

In April 1904, Lepanto, the armored cruiser Cardenal Cisneros, and the protected cruiser Río de la Plata departed Cádiz, Spain, escorting the royal yacht Giralda, upon which King Alfonso XIII was embarked for a visit to the Balearic Islands. The ships stopped first at Mahón on Menorca, then arrived on the afternoon of 21 April 1904 at Palma de Mallorca on Mallorca, where they rendezvoused with Numancia and a British Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Charles Beresford that had arrived from Gibraltar. On the morning of 25 April Giralda and her escorts arrived at Ibiza, then set course for the Chafarinas Islands in the Alboran Sea in the western Mediterranean, which they reached on 26 April. On 27 April, the Spanish squadron departed for Málaga, Spain. Getting back underway from Málaga on 1 May 1904, the ships called at Melilla on the coast of North Africa. The king and his escorting ships then stopped at Chafarinas and Ceuta before ending the voyage at Cádiz. ^[3]

From 8 to 10 April 1907 Lepanto and her squadron — which also included Vitoria, the armoured cruiser Princesa de Asturias, and the protected cruiser Extremadura — joined the battleship Pelayo in attending a meeting between King Alfonso XIII of Spain and King Edward VII of the United Kingdom which took place in Cartagena's harbor. ^{[2] [4] [5]}

Disposal

Lepanto was decommissioned on 3 October 1908. ^{[2] [6]} The last surviving Reina Regente-class ship, she was sold in 1911 and subsequently scrapped. ^[2]

References

Citations

1. "Spanish Cruisers". battleships-cruisers.co.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
2. "Lepanto (1899)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
3. "Cardenal Cisneros (1902)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 7 April 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
4. "Numancia (1864)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 21 August 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
5. "Pelayo (1888)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 6 April 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
6. Mason, Herbert B. (1908). Encyclopaedia of Ships and Shipping. London: The Shipping Encyclopedia Limited. ISBN   9783864443992 . Retrieved 19 March 2017.

Bibliography

• Aguilera, Alfredo; Elías, Vicente (1980). Buques de guerra españoles, 1885-1971 (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial San Martín.
• Bordejé y Morencos, Fernando de (1995). Crónica de la Marina española en el siglo XIX, 1868-1898 (in Spanish). Vol. II. Madrid: Ministry of Defence.
• "No title stated". El Mundo Naval Ilustrado (in Spanish). Vol. 2, no. 23. Madrid. 1 April 1898.
• VV.AA (1999). El Buque en la Armada española (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial Sílex.