Armada Española

This article describes the Spanish Navy. For the Spanish fleet sent by King Philip II to attack England in 1588, see Spanish Armada .

Spanish Navy Armada Española
Spanish Navy Coat of Arms
active
Country	Spain
Armed forces	Spanish armed forces
Type	Armed forces ( navy )
insignia
Gösch (bow flag) of the Spanish Navy

The Armada Española is the Spanish navy . Together with the Ejército de Tierra (Army) and the Ejército del Aire (Air Force), it forms the Spanish armed forces . The Spanish Navy has a long, at times glorious tradition. It is the fifth strongest navy in NATO (after the US, British, French and Italian navies). Around 27,000 professional soldiers serve in the Armada , which comprises 95 ships as well as 60 aircraft and helicopters.

history

With his fleet, the Visigoth king Sisebut not only cut the supply of the Eastern Romans, but also conquered Ceuta and Tangier in 618

The naval battle of Lepanto in 1571

The Spanish Armada 1588

Captain de la Cerda led four battles with the ship of the line Glorioso in 1747 against a superior force of up to 13 British warships

During the siege of Havana in 1762, the Spanish Navy lost at least eleven ships of the line.

The Spanish flagship Santissima Trinidad was sunk in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

In 1873 a naval battle broke out off Cartagena between Spain's central government and regionalists

Fleet parade of Spanish and foreign ships in honor of the regent Maria Christina during the world exhibition in Barcelona in 1888

Monument dedicated to the heroes of Cavite in Cartagena for the approximately 5,000 Spanish marines who died in the battle of Manila Bay and in the defense of Cuba and the Philippines against the USA

precursor

Warships and fleets were built on the Spanish peninsula in ancient times . Carthaginians and Romans had developed the coastal towns into port cities and shipyards. The last Carthaginian fleet sailed in 205 BC. u. Z. from Cádiz via Menorca to northern Italy to bring Hannibal reinforcements against the Romans; and the last western Roman fleet was destroyed by the vandals in the port of Portus Ilicitanus ( Santa Pola ) near Cartagena in 460 . The Visigoths who ruled Spain were only able to assert themselves against the Eastern Romans in Málaga and Cartagena when they began building their own fleet at the beginning of the 7th century; and the Moors of Córdoba , who replaced the Visigoths , built their own fleets in Seville from the middle of the 9th century to defend themselves against the raids of the Vikings . The Moorish admiral Chaschchasch , who was victorious against the Vikings, is said to have sailed across the Atlantic as far as America - 600 years before Columbus. In addition to the Atlantic fleet in Seville, a Mediterranean fleet was created in Almería at the beginning of the 10th century , mainly to ward off the North African Fatimids .

When the Moorish caliphate of Córdoba broke up , most of the caliphate's fleet fell to the Emir al-Mujahid of Dénia at the beginning of the 11th century . His ships ruled the western Mediterranean beyond the Balearic Islands to Sardinia, and even after its defeat by the Italian maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa (1016) or the conquest of Dénias by other Moorish successor empires (1076), Mallorca remained at least until the beginning of the 13th century. Century still an important pirate base with a strong pirate fleet. With the conquest of the Moorish port cities, not only the land, but also the rule at sea fell to the Christian Reconquista empires of Aragon and Castile. In the 12th century, Aragon became a maritime power through the union with Catalonia ( county of Barcelona ), from the 13th century it expanded in the Mediterranean (Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples). Castilian fleets fought in the 14th century against fleets of the Kingdom of Portugal (naval battles off Lisbon and Saltés ) and the Kingdom of England (naval battles of La Rochelle and Gravesend ).

blossom

The Spanish Navy came into being at the end of the 15th century after the union of Castile with the Crown of Aragon . Although it was not until the 18th century that the fleets of the two kingdoms were officially united with the takeover of the throne by the Bourbons and the centralization that came with them , the Aragonese fleet , which was heavily influenced by the Mediterranean and largely comprised of galleys , operated from the beginning the Castilian, consisting of naos and caravels , common. During that era at sea, the Spaniards were able to achieve their first successes in the Italian wars under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Aguilar and in various campaigns in North Africa under Pedro Navarro , which included the conquests of Melilla , Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , and Peñón de Alhucemas as well as Oran ended. That period was shaped primarily by the conflict between the Christian Mediterranean powers with North African corsairs and the Ottoman Empire for supremacy at sea. Initially, the Spaniards and Venetians were subject to the corsairs and Ottomans in 1538 at Preveza and in 1560 at Djerba . The victory of a Holy League led by Spain in the naval battle of Lepanto ended the Ottomans' influence in the western Mediterranean in 1571 and subsequently led to a relocation of Spanish forces and efforts to the Atlantic area and the transition to the galleon as the most important warship in the fleet.

The end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries were marked by constant religious and political conflicts with England and the Netherlands in the course of the Eighty Years' War . The attempted invasion of England by a Spanish armada gained particular fame . Spanish ships had landed on the Irish coast as early as 1579 and 1580, but in 1587 the English corsair Francis Drake sank at least 37 large warships from the Spanish fleet planned for the invasion of England in the port of Cadiz. The actual Armada was partially weakened in 1588 in the fight against the English, but above all by storms and unfavorable winds and could not carry out the planned invasion. The heavy defeat of the Armada did not, however, initiate the transition of supremacy at sea from Spain to England - on the contrary; The Spaniards only began to systematically build up a navy for the Atlantic after 1588. The Spanish tripled their silver exports from the overseas colonies and foiled the Drake-led counterattack on the peninsula known as the Counter Armada ; However , they could not prevent a new conquest of Cadiz by the English in 1596 and the associated destruction of other warships. During the Nine Years War , Spanish ships landed again in 1596 and 1601 to support the rebels in Ireland, but lost other ships as well. Several victories at sea in the Caribbean, including after an attempted attack by Drake and John Hawkins on San Juan , which ended with the deaths of the two most famous English privateers of the time, led to the Treaty of London in 1604 and a peace between the two centuries both countries.

Decline and renewed bloom

A militarily much more severe blow to the Spanish supremacy at sea was the battle of Gibraltar in 1607, in which a Dutch fleet commanded by Jacob van Heemskerk surprised and completely destroyed a Spanish fleet anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar. Spain lost 21 warships in one fell swoop, including 10 large war galleons . According to the naval historian Alexander Meurer , the naval battle at the Downs (1639) was even more serious ; the Spanish navy did not recover from the defeat against the Dutch; more than 40 warships were destroyed or fell into enemy hands. With the defeats against French fleets at Guetaria and Genoa (1638), Cádiz (1640), Barcelona (1642), Cartagena (1643) and Ortobello (1646), the control of the sea in the Mediterranean was also lost. Even in the Mediterranean, Spain could no longer defend its possessions on its own and had to ask the Dutch of all people for help, but the united Spanish-Dutch fleet was also defeated by the French in the sea ​​battle of Palermo in 1676 , because the Spanish hardly knew the Dutch they had called supported. In the second half of the 17th century, Spain gradually lost its dominance in the world's oceans to the Netherlands, England and France, but remained a sea ​​power . The Spanish fleet still played an important role as a link to the colonies .

In the 18th century, the Bourbons took over the crown in Spain and began a. a. a far-reaching reform of the fleet, but initially the Spanish fleet was defeated by the British in the naval battle off Cape Passero in 1718 . Another Spanish fleet sent to invade Scotland was lost in a storm off Cape Finisterre in 1719. With the involvement of French and Italian engineers , shipbuilding was further developed and the Armada was completely centralized. Although the Bourbon Alliance could not break the British supremacy that had existed since the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish fleet was able to stand up to the British Royal Navy until 1805, especially alongside the French Navy. In the War of the Polish Succession and the War of Austrian Succession , Spanish ships successfully landed troops in Italy, but required cover by French escort ships. For example, without French help in the naval battle of Toulon , the Spanish fleet sent to Genoa would not have returned to Spain. Spanish reinforcements sent to the Atlantic and Caribbean were also protected by French ships. But the French fleet's ability to protect Spanish convoys was insufficient, and several naval battles fought off Cape Finisterre and Cape St. Vincent ended in Spanish and French defeats, respectively.

The Spanish Navy also won victories, especially in the course of the War of Jenkins' Ear , a colonial war in which England tried unsuccessfully to break Spanish supremacy in the Caribbean . Blas de Lezo made a glorious name for himself here ; the Spanish admiral known as "Patapalo" (wooden leg) due to numerous injuries (he lost a leg, an arm and an eye in battles) inflicted a heavy defeat on the British off Cartagena . The failure of the British invasions off Cartagena and Santiago de Cuba helped ensure the continuation of Spanish rule in these parts of America for at least the next two decades, even if the British were able to defeat a Spanish squadron off Havana in 1748.

The Spanish Navy was less fortunate in repelling British landings during the Seven Years' War . During the siege of Havana in 1762, the entire Caribbean squadron of the Spanish fleet was destroyed or captured by the Royal Navy, for the return of Havana the Spanish had to leave Menorca and Florida to the British. In the American War of Independence (1775–1783) Spain and France supported the Thirteen Colonies . At the beginning of this war, the Spanish navy had 76 new ships of the line and 131 frigates and corvettes, but the training of the crews and the leadership skills of the officers were often inferior. Nevertheless, the Armada played an important role in the Battle of Pensacola, for example . The Spanish marines , led by Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid , stormed the city of Pensacola on May 8, 1781, after two months of land and sea siege, and forced the British troops under General John Campbell to surrender. The battle was the climax of the Spanish recapture of Florida from the British. Although the Spanish and French succeeded in recapturing Menorca in the same year, the recapture of Gibraltar failed because the aged Admiral Luis de Córdova was unable to block the British in Gibraltar still to block the Strait of Gibralter.

Another decline

The decline of Spain as a sea power was sealed in the 19th century. Spain, allied with Napoleon , fought on France's side in the Battle of Trafalgar . In the course of this, the Royal Navy under Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the Franco-Spanish Armada under the French Vice Admiral Pierre Charles de Villeneuve . This was to break out of the port of Cadiz, which was blocked by the British, on behalf of Napoleon . But his fleet suffered a devastating defeat: the British captured or destroyed 20 of his ships, including the unique Santissima Trinidad , while they themselves did not lose a single combat ship.

Spain, which was occupied by Napoleon and at times sunk in the chaos of several civil wars, was unable to recover from this defeat. As a result, Spain lost a large part of the former colonial empire in the course of the Mexican and South American wars of independence . By 1830, the Spanish navy only had seven ships of the line and frigates and 20 smaller warships. Together, British and Spanish ships and marines were able to suppress the revolution in Portugal in 1847 and, together with the French, the Roman Republic in 1849 , but the Spanish navy was able to defeat the fleets of the newly formed states of South America in the Spanish-South American War despite the bombing of Valparaíso and Callao not enforce.

In contrast to the military coups of earlier decades, the revolution of 1868 was triggered by a naval uprising under Admiral Juan Bautista Topete . In the chaotic years of the First Spanish Republic , the squadron based in Cartagena - and with it the majority of the Spanish fleet - fell into the hands of rebellious cantonalists, who misused the warships to bombard other Spanish Mediterranean ports and in this way to extort tribute payments. Her flagship was the armored frigate Numancia , which had already participated in the bombardment of Valparaíso and Callao and was the first ironclad to circumnavigate the world. From the few remaining and regained ships, the republican central government formed its own navy, the flagship of which was the Vitoria . Both sides fought each other in a naval battle off Cartagena in 1873 . New warships were not built again until 1886, but the Numancia also took part in the Rif War (1893) .

The last significant distant overseas colonies were finally lost in the Spanish-American War (1898); Cuba , Puerto Rico , Guam and the Philippines were occupied by the US. The outdated Spanish fleet was only considered to be third-class at the end of the 19th century and proved to be inferior to the United States Navy . On the eve of the war, the Spanish Navy had 14 armored ships, 18 cruisers, 48 ​​gunboats, 11 modern torpedo gunboats, 14 torpedo boats, 15 transport ships and 12 training ships as well as 22,500 men. It was only roughly on a par with the US Navy in purely quantitative terms. However, most of the Spanish ships were technically outdated and in poor condition. The Pelayo alone would theoretically have been at least halfway up to the US ships, but it was in a French shipyard for maintenance and overhaul. Some of the newer ships were not yet completed despite their commissioning. The poorly equipped ships lacked artillery ammunition and coal, just as the poorly trained crews lacked experience and discipline. US ships blocked all Cuban ports in the course of the war and thus provoked uncoordinated attempts at breakthrough by the Spanish fleet. On a single day, July 3, 1898, the entire Spanish Atlantic fleet under Pascual Cervera was destroyed by the numerically superior and, above all, technically more advanced US Navy under William Thomas Sampson in the sea ​​battle off Santiago de Cuba . In May of the same year, the US Navy had also destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Manila Bay . Overall, Spain lost about half of its warships in that war.

reorganization

Destructor developed by Fernando Villaamil

Submarine developed by Isaac Peral

Little is known that Spanish engineers contributed significantly to technical innovation in warship construction. Fernando Villaamil , a fleet commander who fell during the naval battle of Santiago de Cuba, is considered to be the developer of the destroyer . Conceived by him in Scotland Clydebank built in 1886 and put into service ship named Destructor (dt .: destroyer) served the defense against torpedo boats and coined the eponymous ship class.

Another important engineer was the submarine pioneer Isaac Peral . In 1888 he built a submarine named after him; it was 21 meters long, had two 30-horsepower motors and a torpedo tube. 1889 made Peral as the first ever three successful tests with the Whitehead - Torpedo . This is a sea ​​mine powered by a propeller . Still, Peral's plans were not supported. The boat is in the port of Cartagena today .

Together with French warships, Spanish warships took part in a fleet demonstration off Tangier in 1906 and in the shelling of Casablanca in 1907. Under the Cartagena Accords , the Entente Powers Great Britain and France guaranteed Spain in 1907 its remaining territorial and maritime possessions. In return, Spain is said to have taken on the obligation to develop and fortify its larger ports in such a way that they can accommodate larger British and French naval units if necessary, and to build and maintain a fleet sufficient to protect these ports. In fact, in 1907 the Maura government launched a naval construction program drawn up by Naval Minister José Ferrándiz , which was supplemented by a further armament program in 1908 and also provided for the expansion of the war ports of Cartagena, El Ferrol and Mahón . A Spanish-British joint venture, the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (SECN), with shipyards in Ferrol and Cartagena, was founded in 1909 specifically for the construction of the ships . The shipbuilding plans, however, remained contradictory, inconsistent and inconsistent. Although no expensive deep-sea fleet of many capital ships more was needed for the defense of the ports were built from 1913 on the three SECN shipyard in Ferrol Dreadnoughts the España class put into service. In 1920 the Spanish Navy consisted of four battleships, six protected cruisers, three light cruisers, ten torpedo boat destroyers, 22 torpedo boats, 15 gunboats, ten submarines, two transport and some special ships. In the following years several light and heavy cruisers followed. Construction plans, weapons technology and other equipment were largely obtained from England. Towards the end of the Rif War in September 1925, the Spanish fleet, with the help of aircraft, carried out a large-scale landing operation of 13,000 Spanish and French soldiers as well as 17 tanks and 24 guns in Alhucemas . This successful amphibious maneuver is considered to be a decisive turning point in the Rif War in favor of Spain and France.

The loss of the colonies had also brought about a reorganization of the navy, which the Second Spanish Republic was unable to complete as a result of the Spanish Civil War . Although the majority of the officers defected to the nationalist putschists, the majority of the men and thus the majority of the warships held to the republic. Units of the Spanish Navy fought on both sides. On March 6, 1938, the modern cruiser Baleares , which sailed under the Francoist flag, was sunk by Republican units. 786 of the more than 1200 crew members were killed. Ultimately, however, the Republican Navy could not assert itself against the nationalist-Francoist navy, which was supported by German and Italian ships. After the fall of their base in Cartagena, the republican fleet evaded into French ports in 1939 and was interned there.

assignment

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The Armada Española ensures the territorial integrity of the sea and represents the naval component of the Spanish armed forces.

organization

Headquarters ( Madrid )

General

The Spanish navy, which during the Francoist era and the transition only had obsolete second-hand material, mostly from US stocks, started an ambitious modernization program in the 1980s, parallel to the country's economic boom, under the name Plan Altamar ( Open sea plan). The first technological milestone was the construction of six frigates of the Santa María class , a derivative of the Oliver Hazard Perry class that was manufactured under license from the Spanish shipyard Bazan (now Navantia ). The six ships put into service from 1986 to 1994 are still in active service today.

In parallel, the state shipyard also developed and built the Armada's first modern aircraft carrier, the Príncipe de Asturias , which entered service in 1988.

The combat fleet was completed by the development and construction of five guided missile frigates of the Álvaro de Bazán class .

The amphibious forces have also been extensively modernized . In cooperation with the Koninklijke Marine of the Netherlands, the Amphibious Transport Docks of the Galicia class ( Rotterdam class in the Netherlands ) were developed, and two ships were put into service in 1998 and 2000.

The Segura class , a mine defense vehicle that was also developed and built by the Spanish Navantia, was developed for mine defense . The six ships of this class so far were put into service between 1999 and 2005.

The Rota naval base is the most important location, there are also important naval ports in Ferrol and Cartagena .

Ranks

Flag officers

NATO code	OF-10	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6
Spain
	Captain General 1	Almirante General 2	Almirante	Vicealmirante	Contraalmirante
1 Dressed only by the Spanish king as commander in chief of the armed forces. 2 Only dressed by the Chief of Staff (JEMAD) and the Chief of Staff of the Navy (AJEMA).

Officers

NATO code	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1	OF-1	OF-D	Oficial cadete
Spain
	Captain de Navío	Captain de Fragata	Captain de Corbeta	Teniente de Navío	Alférez de Navío	Alférez de Fragata	Guardiamarinas y aspirantes

NCOs and men

NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4		OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Spain
	Suboficial mayor			Subtenient			Brigada		Sargento primero		Sargento						Cabo mayor						Cabo primero		Cabo		Marinero de 1ª clase						Marinero

Recruitment and training

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equipment

fleet

Ship class	photo	origin	Type	Ships	since	Remarks
Combat ships
Álvaro de Bazán		Spain	frigate	F101 Álvaro de Bazán F102 Juan de Borbón F103 Blas de Lezo F104 Méndez Núñez F105 Cristóbal Colón	2002 2003 2004 2006 2012
Santa María		United States of Spain	frigate	F81 Santa María F82 Victoria F83 Numancia F84 Reina Sofía F85 Navarra F86 Canarias	1986 1987 1988 1990 1994 1994	Derived from the Oliver Hazard Perry class , manufactured under license from the Spanish shipyard Bazan .
Agosta		France	Submarine	S71 Galerna S73 Mistral S74 Tramontana	1983 1985 1986
Amphibious forces
Juan Carlos I		Spain	Amphibious assault ship / aircraft carrier	L61 Juan Carlos I	2010	Flagship and largest ship in Armada history.
Galicia		Spain Netherlands	Amphibious Transport Dock	L51 Galicia L52 Castilla	1998 2000	Developed jointly with the Dutch Navy , the ships are referred to there as the Rotterdam class .
LCM-1E		Spain	Landing craft	L603-614	2006-2008
Patrol boats
Meteoro		Spain	Ocean patrol boat	P41 Meteoro P42 Rayo P43 Relámpago P44 Tornado P45 Audaz P46 Furor	2011 2011 2012 2012 2018 2019
Descubierta		Spain	Ocean patrol boat	P76 Infanta Elena P77 Infanta Cristina	1980 1980	Formerly used as a corvette .
Serviola		Spain	Ocean patrol boat	P71 Serviola P72 Centinela P73 Vigía P74 Atalaya	1991 1991 1992 1992
Chilreu		Spain	Ocean patrol boat	P62 Alborán P63 Arnomendi P64 Tarifa	1997 2000 2004	Mainly used to monitor and support Spanish deep-sea fishing.
Anaga		Spain	Coastal patrol boat	P22 Tagomago P26 Medas P28 Tabarca	1981 1981 1981
Toralla		Spain	Coastal patrol boat	P81 Toralla P82 Formentor	1987 1989
Aresa PVC-160		Spain	Coastal patrol boat	P101 P114	1979 1978
Cabo Fradera		Spain	River patrol boat	P201 Cabo Fradera	1963	Longest serving boat in the Armada. Monitoring of the Rio Miño along the border with Portugal.
Anti-mine vehicles
Segura		Spain	Anti-mine vehicle	M31 Segura M32 Sella M33 Tambre M34 Turia M35 Duero M36 Tajo	1999 1999 2000 2000 2004 2005
Auxiliary ships
Contramaestre Casado		Sweden	Cargo ship	A01 Contramaestre Casado	1982
Martín Posadillo		Spain	Cargo ship	A04 Martín Posadillo	2000
Patiño		Spain	Supply ship	A14 Patiño	1995
Cantabria		Spain	Supply ship	A-15 Cantabria	2010
Neptuno		Spain	Search and rescue	A20 Neptuno	1989	For submarine rescue and diving support
Castor		Spain	Survey ship	A23 Antares	1974
Malaspina		Spain	Survey ship	A31 Malaspina A32 Tofiño	1975 1975
Rodman 1250		Spain	Survey ship	A91 Astrolabio A92 Escandallo	2001 2004
Hesperides		Spain	Research ship	A33 Hesperides	1991
Las Palmas		Spain	Research ship	A52 Las Palmas	1981
Circos		Spain	tractor	A51 Mahón	1981
Punta Amer		Spain	tractor	A53 La Graña	1987
Amatista		Spain	tractor	A101 Mar Caribe	1988	Sister ship of the A20 Neptuno
Juan Sebastian de Elcano		Spain	Sail training ship	A71 Juan Sebastián de Elcano	1928	A sister ship, named Esmeralda, is used by the Chilean Navy as a sailing training ship.
Intermares		Spain	Training ship	A41 Intermares	2018	Fishing school and research ship. Operated jointly by the Armada and the Spanish State Secretariat for Fisheries ( Secretaría General de Pesca ).
Guardiamarina		Spain	Training ship	A82 Contramaestre Navarrete A83 Contramaestre Sánchez Fernández A84 Contramaestre Antero A85 Contramaestre Lamadrid	1983 1983 1984 1984
Rodman 66		Spain	Training ship	A121 Guardiamarina Barrutia A122 Guardiamarina Chereguini A123 Guardiamarina Rull A124 Guardiamarina Salas	2006 2006 2007 2007
Darss		German Democratic Republic	Reconnaissance ship	A111 Alerta	1992	Formerly Jasmund of the People's Navy . Built in 1985 by the Neptun shipyard in Rostock , acquired by the Spanish Navy in 1992.

In addition: 9 auxiliary ships. (As of June 10, 2012)

Naval aviators

AV-8B Harrier II Plus of the Spanish Armada on approach for landing on the Príncipe de Asturias

The Spanish Navy is known as the Flotilla de Aeronaves de la Armada . It operates both the Navy and Air Force Base in Rota , as well as the multi-purpose warship Juan Carlos I of.

It is divided into six flying seasons

3ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with transport helicopters

4ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with liaison aircraft

5ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with transport helicopters

6ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with helicopters

9ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with fighter jets

10ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with attack helicopters for submarine hunting and fighting surface targets

11ª Escuadrilla de aeronaves , equipped with drones

Aircraft

plane	photo	origin	Type	In service	Remarks
Planes
AV-8B Harrier II		United States United Kingdom	V / STOL combat aircraft	13	12 AV-8B II Plus, 1 TAV 8B II
Cessna Citation II		United States	Maritime patrol aerial photography Search and Rescue VIP transport	3	With FLIR equipped
Cessna Citation VII		United States	VIP transportation	1
helicopter
SH-60B Seahawk (HS-23) SH-60F Oceanhawk		United States	Anti-submarine multipurpose helicopter	12 2 (of 8)	12 helicopters of the B variant in LAMPS III design 8 ex- USN F models were ordered to replace the outdated SH-3 Sea King.
SH-3 Sea King (HS-9)		United States	Anti-submarine airborne early warning	10	7 SH-3D for submarine hunting and 3 SH-3H AEW for early warning
Agusta-Bell AB 212 ASW (HU-18)		United States Italy	Underground hunt	7th
Hughes 369 HM / ASW (HS-3)		United States	Multipurpose helicopter	8th
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Boeing ScanEagle		United States	Unmanned aerial vehicle	8th

Future aircraft

As part of a long-term plan that became known in March 2015, the number of different types of helicopters is to be reduced to four for all Spanish branches by 2040. For the Navy, this only includes the NH90 from Airbus Helicopters , which is to come in a submarine and a transport version. The Hughes 500 will be decommissioned from 2018, while the SH-3 will be modernized until the arrival of the NH90 in the marine transport version. The AB 212 are expected to fly as Meteoro-class on-board helicopters until 2030.

Marine infantry

Spanish Marines in Iraq

Self-propelled howitzer of the Infantería de Marina lands during a maneuver in Egypt

→ Main article : Infantería de Marina

The Infantería de Marina is the oldest existing marine infantry in the world. It was founded on February 27, 1537 by King Charles I of Spain (better known as Emperor Charles V ) and called the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles . Initially, however, these were only given to the galleys in the Mediterranean as units for close range battles. It was Philip II who introduced the concept of using them as landing forces as well.

Currently, the Infantería de Marina is divided into Tercio de Armada (TEAR) (amphibious forces) and Fuerza de Protección (FUPRO) (guarding and protecting naval facilities and personnel).

artillery

• 6 self-propelled howitzers M109A5
• 12 OTO Melara howitzers Mod 56
• 81 mm ECIA mortar

Guided missiles

• TOW 2A
• Spike LR
• mistral

vehicles

• 16 M60A3 TTS main battle tanks
• 39 Piranha IIIC 8 × 8 infantry fighting vehicle
• 30 AAV7 amphibious armored vehicles (19 in service, 11 in delivery)
• 124 Humvee (to be replaced)
• 280 URO VAMTAC ST5 (incoming)

New acquisitions

S80A class submarines

The four Isaac Peral class submarines currently under construction represent the showpiece of the ongoing projects of the Spanish Navy. They are developed and built by the state-owned Navantia shipyard. The submarines will be 71 m long and have a displacement of 2500 t when submerged. In addition to three diesel generators (1200 kW) and an electric motor (3500 kW), the boats should also have an external air-independent drive (300 kW) based on fuel cells , which should enable dives of up to 15 days without snorkeling . Furthermore, the S80-class - as the first non-nuclear submarine ever - will have a launching device for cruise missiles and thus be able to attack ground targets at greater distances.

The Spanish Armada has ordered a total of four boats. The commissioning of the first boat is delayed by an estimated six years from the original 2011, ^{[out of date]} initially because of the complex drive and later also because of weight and budget problems. The last boat was supposed to arrive in 2016, in 2011 it was assumed to be 2018 ^{[out of date]} . An originally planned second construction lot consisting of two more boats is no longer planned. In August 2013 it became known that the almost finished boat Isaac Peral is approx. 75 t heavier than it was planned. The background is a production or calculation error.

NH90

NH90 NFH

The "NATO Helicopter 90" NH90 is a new medium transport helicopter from NH Industries. As a European NATO helicopter, it will form the backbone of the helicopter fleet in many countries. The NH90 was designed in such a way that it consists of a basic helicopter which has a modular structure and currently exists in two versions: as a tactical transport helicopter ( TTH ) for the land forces / air force and as a NATO frigate helicopter ( NFH ). The Spanish Navy has initially ordered seven TTH versions. In the medium term, they are to replace the Agusta-Bell AB 212 ASW , Hughes 369 HM / ASW and SH-3 Sea King .

F110 class frigates

After the (expected) end of the F100 procurement after only five of the initially six planned units, the Armada is now concentrating on a successor class for the F80 class.

Well-known Spanish fleet commanders (selection)

Captain General and Fleet Commander Álvaro de Bazán

Admiral Blas de Lezo († 1741), called "Patapalo" (wooden leg)

• Fernando Sánchez de Tovar († 1384)
• Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Aguilar (1453-1515)
• Pedro Navarro (1460-1528)
• Miguel López de Legazpi (1502–1572)
• Álvaro de Bazán (1526–88)
• Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens (1528–76)
• Juan de Austria (1547–1578)
• Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (1550-1615)
• Carlos de Amésquita
• Blas de Lezo (1689–1741)
• Antoni Barceló (1717–97)
• Cosme Damián de Churruca y Elorza (1761–1805)
• Casto Méndez Núñez (1824-69)
• Pascual Cervera (1839-1909)
• Patricio Montojo (1839-1917)
• Fernando Villaamil (1845-89)

Web links

Commons : Armada Española  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (multilingual)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lista Oficial de Buques. (PDF) In: armada.mde.es. Retrieved June 1, 2012 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , page 173. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
3. ↑ Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , page 215ff. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
4. ↑ Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , page 263ff. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 16, page 150 (Spain) . 5th edition, Leipzig / Vienna 1897
6. ↑ Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , page 287. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
7. ↑ Alexander Meurer : Maritime War History in Outlines , pp. 298-302. Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1943
8. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 15, Page 844 (Sea Power) . 5th edition, Leipzig / Vienna 1897
9. ↑ GlobalSecurity.org: Spanish Navy (Armada): 1898 - Spanish American War
10. ↑ Bernhard Schwertfeger : The Belgian documents on the prehistory of the world war 1885-1914 , third volume (The politics of King Edward VII and the Morocco crisis 1905-1907), pages 23f, 27ff, 190-196, 212ff, 216-219. Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte, Berlin 1925 (cf. Bernhardt Schwertfeger: Official files for the history of European politics 1885-1914 , first supplement, Belgian files 1905-1914 , pages 74–81 and 92–101. Deutsche Verlagsgsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte , Berlin 1925)
11. ↑ Francisco Javier Álvarez Laita: Retornos industriales de las inversiones de los planes de escuadra , In: Revista de Historia Naval , number 122, pages 9-30. Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, Madrid 2013 ( PDF )
12. ↑ José Antonia Ocampo Aneiros: La Historia Maritima en el Mundo - La historia vivida - La Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval , In: Revista de Historia Naval , number 129, pages 101-104. Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, Madrid 2015 ( PDF )
13. ^ Joseph Harrison, Alan Hoyle: Spain's 1898 Crisis - Regenerationism, Modernism, Postcolonialism , pp. 63ff. Manchester University Press, Manchester 2000
14. ^ Brockhaus Handbuch des Wissens, Fourth Volume, page 223 (Spain). 6th edition, Brockhaus, Leipzig 1923
15. ↑ The Armada's List of Ships. In: losbarcosdeeugenio.com. Retrieved July 1, 2012 . 
16. ^ Order of Battle - Spain. (No longer available online.) In: milaviapress.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011 ; accessed on February 22, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.