Shipbucket

That is true! But I truly feel that the cruiser Canarias looks much better (aesthetically) with 2 funnels (postwar).

Great series, keep it up!

You may suppose from my (strange) taste for unconventional design that the original funnels were my favorite items of those ships.......

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"You can rape history, if you give her a child"
Alexandre Dumas

JE SUIS CHARLIE

Good morning guys:


The second pair of old italian destroyers sold to the francoist navy: Teruel and Huesca.


Both vessels were old and with a troublesome (worn out is a better phrase) machinery, only armed with 102 mm guns and 450 mm torpedo tubes, the Teruel class were less than a match for the Churruca class republican destroyers, but were intensely used to Block the republican mediterranean harbours from the base of Palma de Mallorca. The class was paid off in the late 1940s - early 1950s.
Thanks to Colombamike and his invaluable aid. Cheers!

Good morning, guys:

A long series of torpedo Boats of the Spanish Navy, class T-1:

A Vickers Normand design, 22 boats were built at several Spanish shipyards between 1912 and 1921. The first 10 had 3 shafts, the last 12, only two. Armed with 3 x 450 mm torpedo tubes (1 single and 1 double) and 3 x single 2 pounder Vickers 47 mm guns.

Several boats were used during the war at Morocco, including the Alhucemas landings of 1926. In 1936, only a half of the boats were in usable condition, 4 were with the rebel forces, and 8 with the republican government. Some of the republican boats were discarded soon after beginning of the SCW, like the T-3 which was paid off in September 1936, but others like T-4 survived almost all the war.


One francoist boat, T-19, was part of the escort force of the convoy of August 5th 1936 from Ceuta lo Algeciras (the transit of Gibraltar Strait), which was important to secure a rebel zone in the coast of Andalusia at the beginning of the rebelion (note that the colors flying in this early stage of the war was the same republican flag). By 1941 all the survivors were severely worn out and discarded. Cheers.

Good evening, guys.

The Spanish Naval Law of 1908 authorized the construction of 4 gunboats, which were built at SECN Cartagena´s shipyard from 1910 to 1912. Bonifaz was the second of the series:

a little gunboat, lightly armed with 4 x 76.2 mm gun and 2 x 47 mm Vickers guns, the 4 vessels were intensely used at several campaigns in Morocco, and were at Alhucemas in 1926. In the early 1930s, the lead ship of the class, Recalde, and also the vessel depicted here, Bonifaz were paid off.

At the beginning of the SCW, the crew of Laya (mainly formed by communist and anarchists sailors) mutinied preventing the rebellion of the francoists captain and officers, so the gunboat surrendered to the republican cruiser Libertad. After that, Laya went to Valencia and was moored there without any particular action, until she was sunk during an air raid in June 1938.


The other survivor of the class, gunboat Lauria was at Cadiz, and that city and harbour fell to the nationalist forces in the first hours of the coup d'etat. But during the fight in the base, the vessel suffered some damage, so only early in 1937 Lauria begun the patrols in the straits, and remain all the war at the mediterranean theatre.

After the war, Lauria was sent to Canary Islands and served there as barrack ship until she was paid off in 1945.

Créditos: i want to thank Colombamike for his help, from the blueprints, to technical details of a ship, and useful comments of how to improve my drawings. Lot of thanks! Cheers.

Lots of great work on this thread, good to see many of the lesser known Spanish ships making an appearance.

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

Excellent additions to this great thread. Keep it up!

One of the more interesting threads here, showing many mostly unknown ships.
Excellent drawings and some interesting histories, well done

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Oh, thanks Novice, Hood and Eswube! Your feedback, and the support of Colombamike are as important as the drawings!

A very active class of gunboats, Canovas del Castillo class, was ordered in early 1920s, and saw action in almost every important action in the war of Morocco, including the crucial Alhucemas landings in 1926. In July 1936, Canalejas and Canovas del Castillo were at anchor at Cadiz and Dato was in Ceuta, so the 3 vessels were in the rebel (francoist) side; unlike most of the Fleet (2 active cruisers, all the destroyers except Velasco, all the submarines) which remained in hands of the republican goverment. The most professional part of the Spanish Army was the Army of Africa (mainly in Northen Morocco) and passing troops and artillery was a critical issue in the first weeks of the war, and the air bridge (mainly Junkers trimotors) was unable to transport heavy loads, but as a strong republican squadron was patroling the straits, any reinforment by sea was a risky operation.


The first week of August 1936, a convoy formed by 2 small transports escorted by Dato, an armed trawler and an old torpedo boat from Algeciras, cross the straits and landed 2 infantry battalions and a 105 mm battery, despite de opposition of the much superior Alcala Galiano republican destroyer (1). While in Algeciras, a republican squadron leaded by Jaime I battleship, shelled that harbour and Dato was sunk resting in shallow waters. Late in september, the gunboat was refloated and towed to Cadiz for a complete refit.


The bridge structure was deeply modified, the forward 102 mm guns now were superflying and all had longer shields, the 47 mm Vickers guns were replaced by 76 mm Ansaldo AA guns, suplemented by 2 x 20 mm Scotti automatic guns. Two depth charges were carried both port and starboard. The other vessels were modified in the same way as soon as possible (Canalejas, the first half of 1937). The class was active in the blocade of the republican mediterranean coast until the end of the war. During WWII the 3 vessels of the class were between Cadiz and the colonies at North and Equatorial Africa.

The final part of the career of the 3 vessels was at the Spanish Guinea. All these ships were paid of in the 1950s.

Credits: Once again, Colombamike helped me with superb blueprints and accute comments for improving the drawings. Thanks a lot! Cheers.

(1): Please, check that in that stage of the war, the rebel gunboat was flying the republican flag. The SCW was deeply over simplified as a war between fascist and communist ideologies, but both sides were in fact, an amalgam of a very complex composition.