Shipbucket

These look so great mate - well done and keep them coming as they are of a very high standard.

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There is no "I" in TEAM but there is a ME


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Current Worklist:
Redrawing my entire AU after a long absence from Shipbucket

Thanks a lot for your kind words, LEUT_East, glad to see you again in the bucket!

Hi, guys! Once again active in the bucket after a chain of health issues (nothing severe, furtunately; just unconfortable ). And once again having the unvaluable aid of Colombamike since the inception of theese drawings (in fact, one of them was completely unknown for me! ).

The first of the series is an old tug, launched in 1903 as May Queen, in 191e was bought by Compañia Tabacalera, and in 1921 was bought by Pesquerias Coruñesas, in the mid 1930s was refited as a salvage tug, equiped with 5 powerful pumps and many hoses, she was renamed Argos, and with Corcubion as homeport she was ready for helping the Galician fishery fleet in the treacherous waters of Costa da Morte, the death coast, near Cape Finisterre.

In 1936 Argos was seized by the Rebel forces and was equiped with artillery as a Nationalist patrol boat, based at Ferrol. In this role, she captured the Republican ship Alfonso Senra, and later, the Swedish steamer Rona. Argos also helped to extinguish the fires in the captured prize Mar Cantabrico (qv). After the fall of Gijon in October 1937, Argos reverted to her former role of salvage tug, and was active in the rescue of the scuttled destroyer Císcar and the oiler Elcano.


After the end of the Civil War, as she was a valuable vessel for raising the many wrecked vessels that were in many Mediterranean Spanish harbours, Argos was bought by the Spanish Navy and renamed R-2, but unofficially she was known by her former name. After a long service, R-2/Argos was paid off in the mid 1970s.

Credits: Colombamike helped me since the inception of the drawing. Lot of thanks! Cheers.

The next drawings are of a rather uncommon vessels in the mainly british designed ships of the Spanish Navy of the first quarter of the XX Century, mainly because are of French origin. After the severe rout at Annual in 1921, the Spanish Navy bought several trawlers, mainly ex-RN tugs, but also 3 MN gunboats ot the Briscard Class (Grognard, Poilu, Rengage) and were named Tetuan, Larache and Alcazar.

In July 1936, Larache and Alcazar were in Cadiz, and Tetuan in Cartagena. And this geographical distribuition was responsible of the ultimate fate of the vessels: the former were in Rebel / Nationalist hands, and the later was in the Republican Navy.

The rebel pair never left the Gibraltra Strait area during all the war, with the exception of some few months at the beginning of 1937 during the capture of the republican harbour and city of Malaga. In the strait zone, both Alcazar and Larache were used as patrol vessels, but also in laison ships between Cadiz and Ceuta.


Tetuan was at Cartagena and the skipper remained loyal to the Republic, she was sent to Barcelona and later in 1936 she participated in the ill fated republican attempt to capture Majorca. The remainder of the war she was at Barcelona and Cartagena, without any particular success.


Credits: Colombamike helped me with very useful corrections of the drawings. Thanks.

And final one, the sole and only river gunboat of the Spanish Navy, the motor boat Cabo Fradera:


This patrol motor boat was armed with an old 42 mm Maxim Nordenfeldt gun, and was based in Tui, over the Miño River. She was seized by the rebel forces early in the coup, and remained in her homeport during all the civil war, and as Portugal had a government which was simpathetic with the francoist forces, Cabo Fradera saw little if no war actions. She remained active until mid 1970s when she was replaced by another motor boat of the same name.

Credits: Once again, Colombamike helped me, with data, drawings, comments and useful corrections, thanks a lot. Cheers.

Great additions. Thank You for Your effort to depict all these ships.

Nice additions, good to see this thread ticking along with more vessels.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Good morning, B & Hood. Thank for your feedback. Unfotunately, I'm afraid that the spanish vessels are almost exhausted☹, I am ending a couple of minor vessels (one of them is of a class already done by Alvama, but my drawing will depict another ship of the same class, thanks to the aid of Colombamike's huge database).
After the spanish vessels, I will try to draw some blocade runners of foreign flag, but tracking the fate or even the owner company in that turbulent and tricky era, is a hard task. Once again, thanks and cheers.

Good evening, gentlemen.

During half a century previous to the Civil War, in Spain tobacco was a state monopoly and all the production and trade of tobacco products was responsability of Compañia Arrendataria de Tabacos (CAT), as in Spain there was no Coast Guard (until now!) or maritime customs service, the repression of smuggling cigars and cigarettes (a lucrative buisness) was part of CAT´s tasks, so this company had her own fleet of patrol boats. In the 1920s, this fleet was expanded, first with 3 sail and motor boats built by Thornycroft, and then with further 15 minor motor boats and 6 bigger ones, all built in Spanish shipyards.

The smaller boats were called "Bolinder´s cruisers" or C Class, had a displacement of nearly 40 tons and were built in Sestao at the Basque Country, Gijon also in the Bay of Biscay, and in Tarragona at the Mediterranean Sea.


The bigger ones were called "Patrullero Inspector" or I Class, had a displacement of 130 tons all were built in Spain, I-2 and I-5 were slightly bigger than the other four vessels. At the begining of the SCW all 6 were seized by the Republican forces and armed with an old 6 pounder gun. I-5 was shelled by a francoist cruiser and sunk beyond repair. I-2 and I-4 were scuttled by republican sailors during the fall of Malaga, early 1937; but were raised and repaired by the rebel fleet. The other 3 boat were with the Republicans until the end of the war.


During WW3, I-6 and I-2 were at Cartagena and were used in MCM missions equiped with a german minesweeping gear and an italian heavy machine gun. For avoiding any confusion, huge spanish flags were painted in the hull.


Credits: Colombamike helped me since the inception of this series. Lot of Thanks! Cheers.

More excellent additions! And very educational too, learnt a lot about Spanish ships in this era through this series of drawings.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

I second Hood's words. That's an excellent thread with great drawings and lots of rather little-known information.