I've been a Hispanophile for as long as I can remember. One part of this is an avid interest in Spanish history and the Civil War in particular. I also love ships so it was inevitable I'd put together some naval forces for both sides and the Non-Interventionist navies.
At the start of the war Spain possessed a small but fairly modern fleet. The division between Loyalist and Rebel ships was fairly even in terms of major units. The Loyalists were able to secure and retain the greater part of the destroyers. The Rebels ending up with a handful of modernish destroyers and some junk ones their Italian allies sold to them.
The most numerous ships in the Loyalist fleet were the Churruca class. There were 14 of these built in two groups of seven each. They were very similar to the RN's Scott class.
Churruca Class 1
Sánchez Barcaiztegui, José Luis Díez, Almirante Ferrándiz, Lepanto, Churruca, Alcalá Galiano and Almirante Valdés (all in the Republican Navy
)Armament: 5-4x 4.7" guns, 1-2x 3"AA, 4 machine guns, 6 torpedo tubes 21'' (2 triple mounts)
Speed: 36 knots
Churruca Class 2
Ships: Almirante Antequera, Almirante Miranda, Gravina, Escaño, Ulloa, Jorge Juan, Císcar (all in Republican Navy
)Armament: 4x 4.7" guns, 2x 3"AA, 4 machine guns, 6 torpedo tubes 21'' (2 triple mounts)
Speed: 36 knots
Churruca Class destroyers were excellent ships, fast and well armed, their only weakness being a lack of modern AA armament. All ships in the Churruca class were built at Cartagena between 1926 - 1937.
Churruca & Sanchez Barcaztegui 1
Churruca & Sanchez Barcaztegui 2
Churruca & Sanchez Barcaztegui 3
Ships: Alsedo, Juan Lazaga, Velasco
Armament: 3x 4'', 2x 47mm AA, 4 machine guns, 4 torpedo tubes 17.7'' (2 double mounts)
Speed: 34 knots
They were good destroyers, but smaller and older than the Churruca Class. They entered service between September 1924 and August 1925.Alsedo & Juan Lazaga stayed loyal while Velasco joined the rebels. They were very similar to the RN's Nimrod class.
Alsedo & Juan Lazaga 1
Alsedo & Juan Lazaga 2
Alsedo & Juan Lazaga 3
Saludos!
Enjoyed reading this post, while I am not big on ships I do find the history of the Civil War facinating and I had no idea that there was a naval aspect to the conflict. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. The naval aspect of SCW isn't known too well. But it has much to recommend it to a wargamer: convoy actions, bombing of ships, MTB fights, submarine warfare, blockade running and even piracy.
DeleteAll the best!