Santissima Trinidad
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
The Spanish ship of the line Santissima Trinidad (also: Santísima Trinidad ; German: "Allerheiligste Dreifaltigkeit") was built in Havana in Cuba in 1769 and sank in 1805 after the Battle of Trafalgar . She was the pride of the Spanish Navy and at the time of her launch the largest warship in the world. She was the seventh Spanish ship with that name.
history
Designed by the English shipbuilder Matthew Mullan and built at the Astillero Real state shipyard in Havana, the Santissima Trinidad was launched on March 3, 1769. In 1770 she was transferred to Ferrol in northern Spain.
On February 14, 1797, she was the flagship of the Spanish Admiral José de Córdoba in the sea battle at Cape St. Vincent and was badly damaged by the British.
Battle of Trafalgar
In 1805 the Santissima Trinidad went to the Battle of Trafalgar with a crew of around 1,500 men . She encountered Nelson's flagship , the HMS Victory , and initially badly damaged it. But then she was surrounded by the French flagship, the Bucentaure , by the Victory , the HMS Temeraire and the HMS Neptune . After a hard battle, the Santissima Trinidad was badly damaged and captured by the British. 400 of their seamen died in the process, 300 were missing. The remaining 700 crew members, including 300 wounded, were taken prisoner.
The fallen were buried at sea: the officers were wrapped in the Spanish flag and weighed down with a bullet. The simple sailors should actually be wrapped in canvas and weighted down with a bullet - but since most of the bullets were shot, the corpses were simply thrown overboard.
Downfall
The winners helped rescue the injured from the hospital , which was at the bottom of the hull, as water was already entering. The Spanish and British operated the pumps together, the latter because they wanted to haul the Santissima Trinidad as a pinch to Gibraltar .
The tow attempt by the Prince was unsuccessful because of a storm. The ship was abandoned, the crew were to be evacuated to four British ships, but the Santissima Trinidad sank on October 22, 1805, one day after the battle, with 150 wounded on board.
Replica
A replica of the ship from 2006 was moored as a museum and discotheque in the port of Málaga . In the summer of 2011, the ship was moved to the port of Alicante (Lage) and is now used as a restaurant.
Replica of the Santísima Trinidad in Málaga
Bow of the replica of the Santísima Trinidad
Stern view with the officers' cabins
