:Spanish battleship España

{{main|España-class battleship}}

File:Espana class line-drawing, Brassey 1911.png

Following the destruction of much of the Spanish fleet in the Spanish–American War of 1898, the Spanish Navy made a series of failed attempts to begin the process of rebuilding. After the First Moroccan Crisis strengthened Spain's ties to Britain and France and public support for rearmament increased in its aftermath, the Spanish government came to an agreement with those countries for a plan of mutual defense. In exchange for British and French support for Spain's defense, the Spanish fleet would support the French Navy in the event of war with the Triple Alliance. A strengthened Spanish fleet was thus in the interests of Britain and France, which accordingly provided technical assistance in the development of modern warships, the contracts for which were awarded to the firm Spanish Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (SECN), which was formed by the British shipbuilders Vickers, Armstrong Whitworth, and John Brown & Company. The vessels were authorized some six months after the British had completed the "all-big-gun" {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}}, and after discarding plans to build pre-dreadnought-type battleships, the naval command quickly decided to build their own dreadnoughts, the first of which was España.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|pp=268–273}}

España was {{convert|132.6|m|abbr=on}} long at the waterline and {{convert|140|m|abbr=on|ftin}} long overall. She had a beam of {{convert|24|m|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{convert|7.8|m|abbr=on|ftin}}; her freeboard was {{convert|15|ft|abbr=on|ftin}} amidships. The ship displaced {{convert|15700|t|LT|abbr=on|lk=on}} as designed and up to {{convert|16450|t|LT|abbr=on}} at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of four-shaft Parsons steam turbines driving four screw propellers, with steam provided by twelve Yarrow boilers. The engines were rated at {{convert|15500|shp|lk=on}} and produced a top speed of {{convert|19.5|kn|lk=in}}. España had a cruising radius of {{convert|5000|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}. Her crew consisted of 854 officers and enlisted men.{{sfn|Sturton|p=378}}

España was armed with a main battery of eight {{convert|305|mm|abbr=on|0}} 50-caliber guns, mounted in four twin gun turrets. One turret was placed forward, two were positioned en echelon amidships, and the fourth was aft of the superstructure.{{sfn|Sturton|p=378}} This mounting scheme was chosen in preference to superfiring turrets, such as were installed in the American {{sclass|South Carolina|battleship|1}}s, to save weight and cost.{{sfn|Fitzsimons|p=856}} For defense against torpedo boats, she carried a secondary battery that consisted of twenty {{convert|102|mm|abbr=on|0}} guns mounted individually in casemates along the length of the hull. They were too close to the waterline, however, which made them unusable in heavy seas. She was also armed with four 3-pounder guns and two machine guns. Her armored belt was {{convert|203|mm|abbr=on|0}} thick amidships; the main battery turrets were protected with the same amount of armor plate. The conning tower had {{convert|254|mm|abbr=on|0}} thick sides. Her armored deck was {{convert|38|mm|abbr=on}} thick.{{sfn|Sturton|p=378}}

{{multiple image

| align = left

| direction = vertical

| width = 300

| image1 = Acorazado España (en 1913).svg

| alt1 = Below the waterline, the vessel is painted red, with a narrow white stripe at the waterline and black above the stripe. The turrets and superstructure are white, with yellow masts and funnel.

| image2 = Acorazado España (en 1923).svg

| alt2 = The red hull paint has been retained, but the white stripe has been replaced with a wider dark gray band. The rest of the hull, turrets, superstructure, masts, and funnel have all been painted light gray.

| footer = Top: Profile of España as she appeared in 1913
Bottom: España as she appeared in 1923}}

The Navy Law of 7 January 1908 authorized construction of España.{{sfn|Fitzsimons|p=856}} She was laid down at the SECN shipyard in Ferrol on 6 December 1909. She was launched on 5 February 1912 and delivered on 8 September 1913, though some work continued until 23 October, when she was commissioned. That month, the French President Raymond Poincaré visited Spain, and during his stay he came aboard España. While aboard, he met the ship's gunnery officer, Jaime Janer Róbinson, upon whom Poincaré later conferred the Légion d'honneur in 1914 for his work developing Spanish gunnery training. Róbinson was the Spanish Navy's leading expert on modern gunnery systems, and his appointment to España allowed him to install the first modern fire-control system in the Spanish fleet. After conducting her shakedown cruise and initial training, the ship participated in gunnery trials in June 1914, after which the vessel was ready for service. The July Crisis that arose in the aftermath of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to the start of World War I at the end of the month, though Italy initially declared neutrality, allowing Spain to do the same. The Italians later joined the Allies the following year, and as a result, España and her sisters were the only European dreadnoughts to avoid the war.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|pp=277, 279}}{{sfn|Sturton|p=376}}

After she entered service, she joined the 1st Squadron of the Spanish fleet, where she was eventually joined by her two sister ships as they were completed.{{sfn|Garzke & Dulin|p=438}} In February 1915, España crossed the Atlantic to represent Spain at the opening ceremonies for the Panama Canal. Since the major European navies were occupied with World War I, only Spain and Portugal sent ships to the ceremonies, along with South American fleets.{{sfn|Jenks|p=72}} After her sister {{ship|Spanish battleship|Alfonso XIII||2}} entered service in mid-1915, the two battleships sailed to Santander, where King Alfonso XIII was aboard his yacht Giralda. The two battleships then took part in training exercises off Galicia.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|p=282}}

In 1920, España was sent on a major cruise to South American waters, departing on 14 June and steaming first to the major ports in the mouth of the Río de la Plata. She carried the Spanish representative to the quatercentenary of the discovery of the Straits of Magellan in Chile, in the process becoming the Spanish Navy's first ship to pass through the Panama Canal. On 29 January 1921 she ran aground in Chilean waters off Puerto Montt on her return to Spain, though she was refloated with some difficulty.{{sfn|Fernández, Mitiukov, & Crawford|p=105}}{{sfn|Rodríguez González|p=283}} Her hull was dented badly for a length of {{convert|150|ft|abbr=on}}, and the rocks tore a large hole that was approximately {{convert|8|by|8|ft|abbr=on}} between frames 22 and 36, and several smaller holes between frames 48 to 56 on the port side and 58 to 76 on the starboard side.{{sfn|Spanish Battleship "Espana"|p=625}} Divers effected temporary repairs with concrete in Chile, followed by permanent repairs that were made in Balboa, Panama before she made her return voyage across the Atlantic.{{sfn|Repairs to the Spanish Battleship "Espana"|p=569}}

File:MNF 020.JPG

Throughout the early 1920s, she provided fire support to the Spanish Army in its campaigns in Morocco during the Rif War that had broken out in mid-1921.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|p=284}} On 17 September, she and Alfonso XIII bombarded Rif positions south of Melilla while Spanish Foreign Legion troops assaulted the positions.{{sfn|Alvarez|p=51}} While conducting a bombardment off Cape Tres Forcas near Melilla on 26 August 1923, España ran hard aground owing to heavy fog. Alfonso XIII came alongside to take off her crew before salvage operations began. The Spanish Navy hired two salvage companies to re-float the battleship, but both declined after they surveyed the wreck.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|p=284}}{{sfn|Fernández, Mitiukov, & Crawford|p=106}}

Unable to raise her under normal conditions, the Navy decided to remove as much weight as possible from España in an attempt to lighten her to permit re-floating. Her guns were removed and dropped overboard to be picked up later by the salvage vessel Kanguro. Much of the battleship's armor, machinery, and ammunition stores were also removed to lighten her. Her hull was then sealed and partially drained in preparation for raising, but while waiting for the necessary equipment from Italy, several violent storms hit the ship and caused further damage by 19 November, some three weeks before she was scheduled to be re-floated. The battered hull could now no longer be raised, and in November 1924, she broke in half and was abandoned by the Spanish Navy.{{sfn|Rodríguez González|p=284}}{{sfn|Fernández, Mitiukov, & Crawford|p=106}}

The 305 mm and 102 mm guns recovered from España were later installed in coastal artillery batteries. Three of the 305 mm guns, designated the La Marquina Battery, were placed at Cadiz in single mounts in 1953; each gun was placed in a new turret mount with an enclosed gun shield atop a concrete emplacement that included a magazine, fire direction, generator, and other support rooms. Some of the batteries remained in service until 1999 before they were retired from service. By 2009, two of the La Marquina guns had been removed, but the third was retained as a display.{{sfn|Fernández, Mitiukov, & Crawford|p=106}}{{sfn|McGovern|pp=179–180}} After the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII, his namesake ship Alfonso XIII was renamed España in April 1931.{{sfn|Fitzsimons|p=857}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{cite book

|last=Alvarez

|first=Jose

|title=The Betrothed of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion During the Rif Rebellion, 1920–1927

|location=Westport

|publisher=Greenwood Press

|year=2001

|isbn=978-0-313-07341-0

|ref={{sfnRef|Alvarez}}

}}

• {{cite journal

| last1 = Fernández

| first1 = Rafael

| first2 = Nicholas

| last2 = Mitiukov

| first3 = Kent

| last3 = Crawford

| date = March 2007

| title = The Spanish Dreadnoughts of the España class

| journal = Warship International

| volume = 44

| issue = 1

| pages = 63–117

| location = Toledo

| publisher = International Naval Research Organization

| issn = 0043-0374

| ref = {{sfnRef|Fernández, Mitiukov, & Crawford}}

}}

• {{cite encyclopedia

| last = Fitzsimons

| first = Bernard

| title = España

| encyclopedia = The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare

| volume = 8

| year = 1978

| location = Milwaukee

| publisher = Columbia House

| isbn = 978-0-8393-6175-6

| ref = {{sfnRef|Fitzsimons}}

| pages = 856–857

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Garzke

| first1 = William

| last2 = Dulin

| first2 = Robert

| title = Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II

| year = 1985

| publisher = Naval Institute Press

| location = Annapolis

| isbn = 978-0-87021-101-0

| ref = {{sfnRef|Garzke & Dulin}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Jenks

|editor-first=J. E.

|title=Naval Panama Canal Program

|journal=Army and Navy Register

|location=Washington, DC

|date=16 January 1916

|volume=LVII

|oclc= 8450775

|ref={{sfnRef|Jenks}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=McGovern

|first=Terrance

|chapter=The Spanish Coast Artillery of the Strait of Gibraltar

|editor-last=Jordan

|editor-first=John

|publisher=Conway

|location=London

|year=2009

|title=Warship 2009

|isbn=978-1-84486-089-0

|pages=177–182

|ref={{sfnRef|McGovern}}

}}

• {{cite journal

| date = 27 April 1921

| title = Repairs to the Spanish Battleship "Espana"

| journal = The Panama Canal Record: August 20, 1920 to August 10, 1921

| volume = XIV

| number = 37

| publisher = The Panama Canal Press

| location = Balboa Heights

| oclc = 564636647

| ref = {{sfnRef|Repairs to the Spanish Battleship "Espana"}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Rodríguez González

|first=Agustín Ramón

|year=2018

|chapter=The Battleship Alfonso XIII (1913)

|pages=268–289

|editor-first=Bruce

|editor-last=Taylor

|title=The World of the Battleship: The Lives and Careers of Twenty-One Capital Ships of the World's Navies, 1880–1990

|location=Barnsley

|publisher=Seaforth Publishing

|isbn=978-0-87021-906-1

|ref={{sfnRef|Rodríguez González}}

}}

• {{cite journal

| date = 25 May 1921

| title = Spanish Battleship "Espana"

| journal = The Panama Canal Record: August 20, 1920 to August 10, 1921

| volume = XIV

| number = 41

| publisher = The Panama Canal Press

| location = Balboa Heights

| pages = 625–626

| oclc = 564636647

| ref = {{sfnRef|Spanish Battleship "Espana"}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Sturton

| first = Ian

| chapter = Spain

| pages = 375–382

| editor-last1 = Gardiner

| editor-first1 = Robert

| editor-last2 = Gray

| editor-first2 = Randal

| title = Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921

| year = 1985

| publisher = Conway Maritime Press

| location = London

| isbn = 978-0-85177-245-5

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V2r_TBjR2TYC&pg=PA378

| ref = {{sfnRef|Sturton}}

}}

{{Commons category|España (ship, 1913)|Spanish battleship España}}

• {{cite book

|last=Gibbons

|first=Tony

|title=The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day

|location=London

|publisher=Salamander Books

|year=1983

|isbn=978-0-86101-142-1

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Lyon

| first1 = Hugh

| last2 = Moore

| first2 = John Evelyn

| title = Encyclopedia of the World's Warships: A Technical Directory of Major Fighting Ships from 1900 to the Present Day

| location = London

| publisher = Salamander Books

| year = 1978

| isbn = 978-0-86101-007-3

}}

{{España class battleship}}

{{1921 shipwrecks}}

{{1923 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|Mediterranean}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espana}}

Category:1912 ships

Category:España-class battleships

Category:Ships built in Spain

Category:Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Maritime incidents in 1921

Category:Maritime incidents in Chile

Category:Maritime incidents in August 1923