Reina Regente (1887)
 Protected cruiser Reina Regente (around 1895) |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | June 20, 1886 |
| Launch | February 24, 1887 |
| Namesake | Queen, regent |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | January 1, 1888 |
| Whereabouts | sunk in a storm on March 11, 1895 (402 dead) |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
Construction: 4,591 tn.l. |
| length | |
| width |
15.43 m |
| Draft |
5.90 m (maximum) |
| crew |
402 men (1895) |
| drive |
|
| speed |
20.72 kn (38.5 km / h) |
| Range |
5,900 nautical miles at 11.6 knots |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
The Reina Regente was a protected cruiser in the Spanish Navy . The ship belonged to the Reina Regente class , which consisted of a total of three units, and was the type ship of this class. His name ("reigning queen") refers to Maria Christina of Austria , who was regent of Spain from 1885 to 1902. After the approval of the ship in May 1886, the construction contract was only days later to the Scottish Clydebank located shipyard of James & George Thompson (1899 John Brown & Company awarded), where on June 20, 1886, the keel laying took place. After being launched on February 24, 1887, it was put into service on January 1, 1888. The ship went down in a storm around March 11, 1895 at Cape Trafalgar .
Technology and special features
The Reina Regente was 102.18 m long and 15.43 m wide. The draft was m at full carbon loading at 5.90. After the comparatively small units of the Isla de Luzon class , the ship was the first larger and modern Spanish new construction of a protected cruiser. In total, the Reina Regente had 156 watertight compartments, 73 below and 83 above the armored deck, whichever is the case Time and, given the ship's dimensions, a considerable number. Part of lying above the water line departments was at full carbon loading also used for bunkering of coal. Another special feature was that the cruiser had a rudder blade with an area of around 31 square meters, one of the largest cruiser oars of that time. The Reina Regente was able to drive a full circle with a radius of around 150 m in just three minutes .
Although the cruiser was considered to be well constructed and good maneuvering properties were said to be good, the draft was comparatively shallow. In combination with the four heavy 24 cm guns, each weighing over 20 tons, and the coal bunkers, some of which were above the waterline , as well as the two auxiliary boilers also installed above the waterline (see machinery), this resulted in a top-heavy appearance . It is believed that this may have contributed to the loss of the ship in the 1895 storm.
Machine system
The machinery of Reina Regente consisted of four coal-fired Niclausse - water-tube boilers and two vertically mounted triple expansion engines , the two screw drives, which could afford a maximum of 110 revolutions per minute. The four main boilers were all in their own watertight rooms. In addition, there were two single-end auxiliary boilers on board, which were located just above the waterline, but were only switched on in emergencies or when there was an attempt to escape. With a maximum engine output of 11,598 PSi , the cruiser was able to reach a top speed of 20.72 kn (approx. 38.5 km / h). The range with a standard coal load of 400 tons was about 5900 nautical miles with an average maximum speed of 11.6 knots. With a full coal load of around 900 tons, the ship could cover a maximum distance of 13,000 nautical miles before coal had to be added.
Armament
Measured by the water displacement, the armament of the Reina Regente was very strong. The main artillery consisted of four 24 cm L / 35 guns, Model 1883, of the Hontoria type . The guns were located in turret shields that were open to the rear and the fronts had an armor thickness of 76 mm, with two guns in front and two aft of the main superstructure. However, this arrangement was rather inexpedient, as the two pairs of guns stood next to each other, but in separate barbettes . As a result, the two pairs of guns hindered each other when firing a broadside . The 24 cm cannons could fire an armor-piercing shell weighing 199 kg over a maximum distance of 9,960 m.
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In addition, six individually mounted 12 cm Hontoria L / 35 model 1883 guns were on board as medium artillery , with three of these guns each able to fire to port and starboard. These cannons, standing on the armored deck, were equipped with 25 mm thick armor shields and could fire a 24.1 kilogram grenade over a maximum distance of 10,130 m. The lighter armament consisted of six 5.7 cm Hotchkiss cannons and four eight-barrel 2.54 cm Nordenfelt mitrailleuses . There were also five rigidly installed 35.6 cm torpedo tubes on board, two of which could fire in the bow direction; In addition, a torpedo tube was installed on both sides of the ship and in the stern .
Working time
From the time it was commissioned, the Reina Regente was mostly used as a patrol ship and for representation purposes. In 1888 the cruiser took part in the world exhibition in Barcelona ; The Spanish war flag was personally presented to the crew of the ship, which had just been put into service, by Queen Maria Christina . In 1891 a visit to Greece followed , including Piraeus .
In September 1892 the Reina Regente was relocated to Italy , where she took part in Genoa on the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' departure for his first voyage to the New World . Detached to Havana in the spring of 1893 , the cruiser towed a replica of the Santa Maria carrack , Columbus' flagship during his first voyage of discovery, to Hampton Roads from there in April 1893 . On August 27, 1893, both ships took part in the fleet parade on the occasion of Columbus' discovery of America in New York . A visit to Baltimore followed later .
After returning to Spain, the Reina Regente carried out maneuvers off Alicante and Santa Pola in the late summer of 1893 . The cruiser then moved off the coast of Morocco , where the first Rif War broke out in October 1893 . The ship mostly performed security and watch duties, but was not involved in fighting.
Downfall
On March 9, 1895, the cruiser left Tangier in Morocco and, despite a strong south-westerly storm, headed for Cádiz in order to be able to attend the launch of the new armored cruiser Emperador Carlos V , which was planned for a few days later . It was the ship's last sign of life. After the cruiser was reported as overdue on March 13, the Spanish Navy began search operations, supported by British and later French warships. On March 15, wreckage as well as a Spanish flag and a compass box were found near Tarifa , which could be assigned to the Reina Regente . On April 2, fishermen found a severely decayed male corpse on the beach about two kilometers east of Conil de la Frontera , which could be identified as that of a sailor from the Reina Regente .
Further traces of the cruiser or its crew were initially not found. On April 8, 1895, the Spanish Navy declared that they considered the ship to be lost. Reports that the wreck of a warship had been found off the North African coast soon proved to be false. On April 25, 1895, just under six weeks after the ship's disappearance, the Spanish protected cruiser Isla de Luzon found the wreck of the Reina Regente . It was (and still is) at a depth of about 200 m, about 15 nautical miles southeast of Cape Trafalgar , about halfway between Tarifa and Cape Trafalgar.
However, it remained partially unclear what ultimately caused the disaster. It was assumed that the Reina Regente overturned and sank in that strong south-westerly storm around March 11, 1895 as a result of her top-heaviness . An investigative commission of the Spanish Navy later came to the conclusion that a failure of the mechanics of the large rudder blade and the resulting cross-ripping of the cruiser in the storm could also have caused the loss. The commander, Capitán de Navío Francisco Sanz de Andíno, 50 officers and 351 crew ranks as well as artillery cadets went down with the ship . There were no survivors. The sinking of the Reina Regente is the worst disaster of the Spanish Navy in peacetime in terms of casualties.
After the loss of the Reina Regente , the Spanish government decided to have a new ship built with this name as soon as possible. This new Reina Regente , also a protected cruiser, was laid down in Ferrol in March 1897 and scrapped in 1926.
literature
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Eds.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 . New York 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Joaquín Gil Honduvilla: El Crucero Reina Regente. 1st edition. Quiron Ediciones, 2004, ISBN 84-933793-1-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Sidney Johnson, Clarence A. Bickford, William W. Hudson, Nathan Haskell Dole: The Cyclopedic review of current history. Volume 3, Garretson, Cox & Co., Buffalo (NY) 1894, pp. 296 f. ( archive.org ).
Coordinates: 36 ° 2 ′ N , 5 ° 42 ′ W