Battle of Cartagena (1873)
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Both parties to the conflict fought under the Spanish flag,
front right Numancia , back right Vitoria
(representation of the battle based on Joan Font i Vidal)
| date | October 11, 1873 |
|---|---|
| place | Mediterranean Sea , near Portmán and Cabo del Agua, between Escombreras and Cabo de Palos , Spain |
| output | draw |
| consequences | the blockade of Cartagena is temporarily broken and Admiral Lobo is replaced |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| three ironclads, one smaller ship |
an ironclad, three wooden frigates, two smaller ships |
| losses | |
|
13 dead, 47 wounded |
officially none (n.a. 11 dead, 32 wounded) |
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The Battle of Cartagena , alternatively the Battle of Portmán or Battle of Escombreras , is a naval battle that took place on October 11, 1873 in the waters off Cartagena between warships of the Spanish central government and rebellious cantonalists from Cartagena. The two strongest warships in the Spanish Navy fought against each other, although both sides were flying the Spanish flag .
Republic versus regions
After King Amadeus I abdicated , the Spanish Republic was established on February 11, 1873 . The young republic waged a two-front war from the beginning. In the north of Spain ( Navarre , Basque Country , Catalonia ) the Carlist fought for the re-establishment of the monarchy and in the south of the country ( Andalusia , Levant ) insurgent supporters of a federal transformation of the republic had established several autonomous cantons .
Most of the Spanish navy had fallen into the hands of the insurgents in Cartagena. These included the armored ships Numancia , Vitoria , Tetuán and Méndez Núñez , the frigate Almansa , the steamer Fernando el Católico as well as a few smaller steamers and gunboats. The government-loyal crews and officers of these ships were replaced by freed galley convicts . The crew of the frigate Villa de Madrid joined the insurgents. With the captured ships, the cantonalists from Cartagena hijacked Spanish merchant ships and shot at other Spanish port cities that had also declared themselves autonomous cantons. In this way they extorted financial support ( contributions ) and food. Thereupon the central government in Madrid officially declared the ships sailing under the red flag of the cantonalists and their crews to be pirates on July 20, 1873 .
While the Spanish government in the Mediterranean initially did not have its own warships to put a stop to further failures and raids by the cantonalists, Great Britain , France , the German Empire , Italy , Austria-Hungary , Portugal , Sweden , the USA and even Brazil sent their warships to protect their citizens in Spanish waters. Most of these foreign warships were anchored in Escombreras Bay, in Cartagena's immediate vicinity. German, British and US warships brought on some red flag ships, such as B. the Vitoria , the Almansa and the Villa de Madrid , and handed them over to the Spanish government. In order to avoid the capture of further ships, the cantonalists from now on also carried the internationally recognized red-yellow-red flag of Spain at sea .
Flag of the (First) Spanish Republic
Red flag of the autonomous cantons
Alternative flag of the cantonalists
In the meantime, the central government formed a new Mediterranean squadron from the returned warships and some ships brought in from other ports. The commander of this government squadron was Rear Admiral Miguel Lobo y Malagamba . Since the government feared that the cantonalists, who had already been trapped by government troops on land, could flee with the warships from the besieged city to Oran (French Algeria), Lobo's squadron began a naval blockade of Cartagena on October 10, 1873. The Cantonalists led by General Juan Contreras y Román attacked Lobos squadron on the morning of October 11th. The opponents met east of Cartagena, both sides flying the Spanish flag. British, French, German and Italian warships patrolled and watched the battle in the immediate vicinity.
Numancia versus Vitoria
The Numancia , built in France in 1863, was considered the most powerful battleship in the Spanish Navy, its "sister ship", the Vitoria , built in England in 1865 , as the second most powerful ship. The cantonalists assumed that Numancia could even take on Lobo's entire squadron alone. The crews of the Numancia and the other ships, however, were poorly trained both in seamanship and artillery and were inexperienced and undisciplined despite or precisely because of their relatively high fighting spirit.
Therefore, on the other side, Admiral Lobo assumed that he could defeat all three of the rebels' armored ships with the Vitoria alone . The Vitoria was at least stronger than the other two tank frigates (built in Spain in 1861 and 1863), the Tetuán and the (somewhat smaller) Méndez Núñez (more of a corvette than a frigate), but not necessarily stronger than both combined. Even if the cantonalists had more, better ships, Lobo believed they had better crews. But the crews on his ships were also insufficiently trained and inexperienced. In addition, there were not enough heaters on board on the Vitoria to generate enough pressure on the boilers for higher speeds. The Vitoria received support only from the wooden propeller frigate Almansa as well as two smaller wooden propeller frigates (also more like corvettes) and two outdated paddle steamers.
Admiral Miguel Lobo
General Juan Contreras
Admiral Nicolas Chicarro
Initially, Contreras 'armored ships attacked Lobos' unarmored frigates, but were pushed off by the Vitoria . The Numancia was able to break away quickly from the Vitoria and instead attacked the steamer Ciudad de Cádiz , which, however, fled behind the German corvette SMS Elisabeth . Then the Numancia attacked the steamer Colon , but broke off this attack when the armored ships Tetuán and Méndez Núñez , which were still fighting against Lobos frigates, were also attacked by the Vitoria . The only way the Méndez Núñez escaped capture by the Vitoria was by taking cover behind a French armored frigate. Contreras then gave the signal to return to Cartagena from the Tetuán , which acted as admiral ship, against the will of his crews; the Tetuán covered the retreat. The Vitoria could have pursued, destroyed and sunk the Tetuán , but Lobo decided not to do so because he wanted to keep all ships for Spain.
Depiction of the battle in Le Monde illustré , in the foreground the Vitoria
Depiction of the battle in The Illustrated London News , in front the Tetuán
Tetuán and Vitoria fire at each other, observed by HMS Research
consequences
On the armored ships of the cantonalists, some of which were badly damaged during the two-hour battle, 13 men were killed and another 47 injured; according to other information, there were a total of 19 dead and 84 injured. Among the dead was Miguel Moya , who, as vice-president of the Cartagena junta , had commanded Numancia . Lobo's squadron had no deaths to report, but the steamer Ciudad de Cadiz was slightly heavier and the frigate Almansa was slightly damaged.
With the cantonalists returning to the port of Cartagena, Lobo reported a victory in Madrid. When the cantonalists showed up in front of the government squadron again on October 13, 1873 (this time southwest of Cartagena), it was Lobo who decided to turn away and avoid another battle. In Gibraltar he wanted to steal his ships again and wait for reinforcements from the Zaragoza tank frigate brought in from Cuba . The cantonalists once again celebrated the fact that the blockade was initially canceled as their victory. On October 19, they even appeared in front of Valencia and could only be prevented from bombarding this city by foreign warships. In this last attack or attack by the cantonalists, the Numancia accidentally rammed the steamer Fernando el Católico and sank it.
Lobo had meanwhile been recalled from his command on October 15 to protect the enemy and replaced by Rear Admiral Nicolás Fernández Chicarro y Leguinechea. Chicarro resumed the naval blockade with seven warships on October 29th and began shelling Cartagena on November 26th. The Tetuán, lying in the shipyard for repair , was badly damaged on December 30, 1873 and exploded after a fire in the powder chamber. According to other sources, it was blown up by the cantonalists so that it would not fall into the hands of the government troops in the face of the Cartagena case. Alone with the Numancia they broke through Chicarro's sea blockade and finally fled to Oran.
Remarks
- ↑ The supporters of the republican central government were also called centralists , unionists, unitarists or loyalists, the rebels, however, as cantonalists , regionalists , federalists , insurgents (rebels), intransigents (radicals) or Bakunists ( anarchists ).
- ↑ Unofficially, some ships from Cartagena already carried the red, yellow and purple alternative variant of the Spanish flag that was later to be adopted by the Second Republic .
- ↑ According to various statements, it was either the Thétis (KuK Hydro-Amt Pola) or the Sémiramis (Puig, Font i Vidal, Crespo).
Individual evidence
- ^ Antonio Pérez Crespo: El Cantón Murciano , page 336. Edición de la Academia Alfonso X El Sabio, Murcia 1990 ( PDF )
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q K. K. Hydrographisches Amt Pola: Communications from the Maritime Area, Volume 2, Pages 275-291. Carl Gerold's son's printing and commission publishing house in Vienna, 1874.
- ↑ a b c d Stanley Sandler: Battleships - An Illustrated History of Their Impact , pp. 64f. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2004
- ↑ a b c d e f g Wilhelm Müller: Political history of the present - The year 1873 , pages 193-202. Julius Springer, Berlin 1874
- ↑ a b c d e Sydney Morning Herald of December 17, 1873, page 4: Naval Engagement off Cartagena
- ↑ Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de defensa: Combate naval de Cartagena (11 de octubre de 1873)
- ↑ Manuel Rolandi Sánchez-Solís: Julio de 1873 - la Sublevación Cantonal triunfa en los buques y enel arsenal de Cartagena , In: Revista de Historia Naval 99/2027, page 37. Instituto deHistoria y Cultura Naval, Madrid 2007 ( PDF )
- ^ Antonio Puig Campillo: El Cantón Murciano , pp. 284-288. Editora Regional de Murcia, Murcia 1986