Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán

{{Short description|Spanish navy officer (1744–1816)}}

{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio|Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán|date=August 2011}}

{{No footnotes|date=March 2019}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}

{{family name hatnote|Valdés|Fernández Bazán|lang=Spanish}}

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán

| honorific_suffix =

| image = AntonioValdésYFernándezBazán 1222533.jpg

| alt = Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán. (Naval Museum of Madrid).

| caption =

| birth_date = 25 March 1744

| birth_place = Burgos, Spain

| death_date = {{death date and age|1816|04|04|1744|03|25|df=y}}

| death_place = Madrid, Spain

| allegiance = Spanish Empire

| branch = Spanish Royal Navy

| battles = Siege of Havana

| module = {{Infobox officeholder

| embed = yes

| office = Secretary of State for Navy of Spain

|termstart = 9 March 1783

|termend = 13 November 1795

|monarch = Charles III
Charles IV

|1blankname = First Secretary of State

|1namedata = Count of Floridablanca
Count of Aranda
Manuel Godoy

|predecessor = Pedro González de Castejón

|successor = Position abolished

|office2 = Secretary of State for War, Treasury, Commerce and Navigation of Indies of Spain

|termstart2 = 8 July 1787

|termend2 = 25 April 1790

|monarch2 = Charles III
Charles IV

|1blankname2 = First Secretary of State

|1namedata2 = Count of Floridablanca

|predecessor2 = Position created

|successor2 = Position abolished

}}

}}

Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán (25 March 1744 – 4 April 1816) was a Spanish navy officer of the Royal Navy.{{Citation |last=Guimerá |first=Agustín |title=The Statesman and the Naval Leader: The Count of Floridablanca and Navy Minister Antonio Valdés, 1783–1792 |date=2024 |work=Sailors, Statesmen and the Implementation of Naval Strategy |pages=70–91 |editor-last=Harding |editor-first=Richard |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781805431343%23c4/type/book_part |publisher=Boydell and Brewer |doi=10.1017/9781805431343.005 |isbn=978-1-80543-134-3 |editor2-last=Guimerá |editor2-first=Agustín}}

==Biography==

He entered the navy at the age of 13. He distinguished himself in the defence of Morro Castle and San Salvador de la Punta Fortress during the Battle of Havana (1762). He also fought against the Barbary Coast pirates in 1767.

In 1781, he became director of the Royal Artillery Factory of La Cavada, and reorganised it to that extent that he was promoted to become inspector general of the Spanish Navy. In 1783, at the age of 38, he became Navy Minister and continued the modernisation of the Spanish Navy.

In 1785, among 12 flags that he drew, one was chosen to become the Spanish naval ensign flag by Charles III.

He became a knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1797.

The settlements of Valdez, Alaska and Valdez, Florida were named after him, as well as Bazan Bay in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez, that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling its cargo of crude oil into the sea on March 24, 1989, was named after the Alaskan town which had been named after Valdés.