SCW Naval: Franco's Rebel Fleet

I don't intend to spend a lot of time on explaining the ins and outs of General Franco's rebellious, illegal and piratical navy. All the details for the ships in my collection are listed in the links given in earlier posts on SCW Naval. There are a couple of ships missing. Baleares sister of Canarias for example.

Battleship: Espana

Heavy Cruiser: Canarias

Light Cruiser: Almirante Cervera

Light Cruiser: Navarra

Destroyer: Huesca

Destroyer: Teruel

Gunboats: Dato, Canalejas & Castillo

All models from Navwar's 1/3000 range. I used artistic licence for the gunboats. They're some kind of tiny, crap destroyer possibly from the Ironclads range.

Here's some heroic Republican Air Force, or La Gloriosa, planes on their way to show the rebels the error of their ways:

Chato Aircraft

Mosca Aircraft

Rasante Aircraft

I found this site which details several major and minor naval engagements during SCW. They also provide some simple rules. I'll be doing a play-test or two soon; results and pictures when I have them.

Salud y Républica!

SCW Naval: Republican Battleship

Finally for La Armada Republicana we have its sole battleship Jaime Primero. As in earlier blog entries this site was extremely useful: SCW Battleships.

España Class

Ships	Jaime Primero (Republican Navy), España (Nationalist Navy), Alfonso XIII (Sunk pre-war)
Displacement	15,700 tons normal, 16,400 full load
Dimensions	Length: 139.90 m. (459' 2'') Beam: 24 m.(78' 9'') Draft: 7.70 m. (25' 6'')
Machinery	4 Screws, Turbines Parsons, 12 Boilers Yarrow of coal 20,000 HP.= 19.5 knots.7,500 milles/10 knots
Armament	As built: 8x305mm (12'') / 50cal. 20x101.6mm (4'') / 50cal .-2x47mm AA - 2 machine guns. España 1937:12 x101.6mm- 4x88 mm - 2x20 mm and several machine guns Jaime I 1937: 20 x101.6mm- 2x76 mm. - 4x47 mm and several machine guns
Armor	V= 230-150-75 mm (9''-6''-3'') H=50-25 mm. (2''-1'') Turrets= 250 mm (10'')
Crew	850

Jaime Primero 1937
Laid down: 5 February 1912. Launched: 21 September 1914. Completed: September 1921. Sunk: 17 June 1937.

Jaime Primero 1

Jaime Primero 2

Next time the Franco fleet.

Welcome to new blog follower Brian Carrick who runs a smashing blog on collecting toy soldiers, well worth a look.

TTFN!

SCW Naval: Republican Cruisers

While researching and building the opposing fleets I found these two sites invaluable: SCW Warships 1 & SCW Warships 2.

Two of the cruisers featured were the mainstay of the the Republican naval effort as far as heavy units were concerned. These were Libertad & Mendez Nunes. These two were involved in many of the war's engagements and proved their worth time and again against the heavier guns of Canarias & Baleares. Of which, more later.

It has also become apparent that many Spanish ships were based upon RN designs, although with some modifications. It also seems that numbers of British naval engineers remained at various Spanish naval bases, eg El Ferrol & Cartagena, for the duration of the war. It would appear that they assisted both sides in repairs and maintenance.

Cervera Class

Ships	Libertad (ex-Príncipe Alfonso) and Miguel de Cervantes (Republican Navy), Almirante Cervera (Nationalist Navy)
Displacement	7,975 tons standard, 9,240 full load
Dimensions	Length: 176.62 m (579' 6'') Beam: 16.61 m (54' 6'') Draft: 5.03 m (16' 6'')
Machinery	4 Screws, Turbines Parsons, 8 Boilers Yarrow 80,000 HP.= 33-34 knots. 4,950 miles/15 knots
Armament	8x152 mm (6'') /50 cal (3 double mounts and 2 single mounts) -4x101.6 mm (4'') /45 cal. AA -2x47mm AA -12 torpedo tubes - 533.4 mm (21'') (4 triple mounts)
Armor	V=75-50 mm H=25 mm
Crew	566

These light cruisers were designed after the British "E" class ( Emerald and Enterprise), though differences in armament arrangement, funnels, torpedoes and other details made them considerably superior to their Royal Navy counterparts. 

Good ships, their main disadvantage being the main guns in opened mounts, oddly in two single and three double mounts. Handsome, fast and well armed for their displacement, at the beginning of the war they were among the most valuable assets for either navies.

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Libertad 

Laid down: 24 November 1922. Launched: 3 January 1925. Completed: 20 September 1927. Retired : 2 January 1970

Libertad 1

Libertad 2

Miguel de Cervantes 

Laid down: March 1926. Launched: 18 May 1928. Completed: 14 February 1930 Retired: 1 July 1964.

Miguel de Cervantes 1

Miguel de Cervantes 2

Méndez Núñez Class

Ships	Méndez Núñez (Republican Navy ), Blas de Lezo
Displacement	4,780 tons standard, 6,045 full load
Dimensions	Length: 140.80 m (462') Beam: 14.02 m (46) Draft: 4.72 m (15' 6'')
Machinery	4 Screws, Turbines Parsons, 12 Boilers (6- fuel and 6-coal) Yarrow 43,000 HP.= 29 knots. 5,000 miles/13 knots
Armament	6x152 mm (6'') /50 cal. -4x47 mm. AA -4 machine guns AA -12 torpedo tubes 533.4 (21'') mm.(4 triple mounts)
Armor	V= 75-50 mm (3''-2'') H=25 mm (1'')
Crew	320

Méndez Núñez

Laid down: 1915. Launched: July 1922. Completed: September 1924 Retired : 8 February 1964.

The Méndez Núñez had a sister ship named Blas de Lezo who accidentally sank in 1932. Both these cruisers were based on the British "C" class, but better armed. Over the entire life Méndez Núñez maintained a mixed combustion machinery that handicapped her performance.

Mendez Nunez 1

Mendez Nunez 2

I've included images of Blas de Lezo, sunk 1932, with a view to a 'what if?' campaign. Given the Nationalist preponderance of heavy units, and my own bias, she will be Republican.

                          

Blas de Lezo 1

Blas de Lezo 2

All the ship models are from Navwar Naval Vessels Pg18 and are all 1/3000 scale.

Welcome to new blog followers QuantrillRoy who has done some top work in modelling and FLW. Hello also to Geordie who runs another boss blog! I now follow them, and so should you!

All the best!

SCW Naval: Republican Destroyers

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

Alsedo Class
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!