Isla de Cuba
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 the cruiser Isla de Cuba |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| units | Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. , Elswick Building N ° 498 |
| Keel laying | February 25, 1886 |
| Launch | December 11, 1886 |
| Namesake | the island of Cuba , |
| Commissioning | September 22, 1887 |
| Whereabouts | self-sunk on May 1, 1898 1900-1912 gunboat USS Isla de Cuba 1912-1940 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1038 ts |
| length |
56.32 m pp, |
| width |
9.13 m |
| Draft |
3.8 m |
| crew |
70-164 men |
| drive |
2 cylinder boilers, |
| speed |
14.2, with artificial pull 15.92 kn |
| Range |
2000 nm (160 t coal) |
| Armament |
• 4 × 120 mm González Hontoria cannons |
| Coal supply |
164 ts, max. 200 ts |
| Armor deck |
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| Command tower |
50 mm |
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Armament from 1900 |
4 × 102 mm L / 40 cannons, |
| Sister ships | |
The Isla de Cuba was the second ship in a class of small armored cruisers in the Spanish Navy . In the battle in the Bay of Manila, the crew sank the ship itself. The American conquerors lifted the ship and repaired it.
The former Spanish cruiser entered service with the US Navy in 1900 as the gunboat USS Isla de Cuba . First it was used in combat with the Filipino rebels. From 1904 in the USA, she became a training ship for reserve forces of the naval militia in 1907 .
In 1912 the gunboat was sold to Venezuela and remained in service as crucero Mariscal Sucre until it was demolished in 1940.
Building history
The Isla de Cuba was built at the British shipyard Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. in Elswick near Newcastle-upon-Tyne at a cost of 2.4 million pesetas. After the keel was laid on February 25, 1886 together with the type ship Isla de Luzon , it was launched one month after this on December 11, 1886 and was completed with the type ship by September 22, 1887. The small protected cruisers had a steel hull and a funnel. The ships were very wide for their length and showed only moderate sea characteristics, as the bow was easily buried by waves. Because of their small size, the cruisers were mostly referred to as gunboats in 1898 .
Isla de Cuba was armed with four 120 mm L / 35 cannons of the Spanish type Hontoria, plus four rapid-fire guns of the types 6-pounder 57 mm-L / 43- Nordenfeldt and 37-mm-L / manufactured by Armstrong under license 20 Hotchkiss revolver cannon , a machine gun and three 356 mm torpedo tubes.
Mission history
After their completion, the two small cruisers ran together from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Spain on January 6, 1888 and the Isla de Cuba joined the Spanish Mediterranean fleet. Like the Isla de Luzon, it took part in the Rif War in 1893/94 and also shot at land targets between Melilla and Chafarinos . When the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896, she was also sent to the Philippines and part of the squadron under Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón .
Both sister ships were part of Montojo's squadron when the Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898. They were anchored with the squadron in Cañacao Bay near the Cavite Peninsula , Luzon , eight miles southwest of Manila , when, early in the morning of May 1, 1898, the Pacific Squadron of the United States Navy under Commodore George Dewey discovered and attacked the Spaniard's anchorage. The developing battle in Manila Bay was the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War.
The American squadron fired several times past the Spanish ships. Initially, Dewey's ships focused their fire on Montojo's flagship, the cruiser Reina Cristina and the cruiser Castilla , while the Isla de Luzón suffered little damage. When the Reina Cristina failed, the Isla de Luzón and Isla de Cuba went alongside under heavy American fire to help the flagship. Montojo switched to Isla de Cuba , which became the flagship of the defeated squadron.
Since Montojo's squadron was badly damaged, the Isla de Cuba , which had received 5 hits, was self-sunk in shallow water by the crew to prevent it from being taken over by the Americans. Their superstructures remained afloat after the self-sinking and the gunboat USS Petrel put a group on board that set the sunken Spanish ship on fire. The sister ship Isla de Luzon sank itself and was set on fire by the Petrel .
After the United States occupied the Philippines, the United States Navy took possession of the wreck, lifted it, and towed the ship to Hong Kong , where it was repaired. In 1900, the repaired ship came into service in the United States as the gunboat USS Isla de Cuba . The US Navy did the same with the Isla de Luzon , which, however, was repaired in Singapore .
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The USS Isla de Cuba entered the service of the United States Navy on April 11, 1900 in Hong Kong under Lieutenant JN Jordan. The Spanish 120 mm guns had been removed and replaced with four 4 inch (102 mm) L / 40 guns standing on the foredeck and the poop.
After her maiden voyage in American service from Hong Kong to the Philippines, she served there as a supply and guard ship. In Ormoc on Leyte they gave a battalion ashore on November 17, 1900 to defend the city, as the army garrison there had left the city to pursue insurgents. The gunboat also remained on site for support until December 8th. In early 1901, she explored and measured the anchorages at Ormoc and the port of Parasan . She was then assigned to the Southern Squadron, which cut off the insurgents' supplies on Samar , assisted in the capture of Vicente Lukbán , leader of the Samar rebels, and carried out the tight blockade of Samar, all of which hastened the conclusion of a ceasefire. At times, the Isla de Cuba was used together with the Isla de Luzon .
On March 4, 1904, the USS Isla de Cuba ended its service in the Philippines when it left Cebu . After arriving in the United States, she was taken out of service on June 9 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire , where she was repaired and maintained until she was assigned to the Naval Militia of Maryland as a training ship on March 21, 1907 . Before 1908, Isla de Cuba received two very thin chimneys (like Isla de Luzon ); also the armament was changed several times during their membership in the US Navy.
In the service of Venezuela
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On April 2, 1912, the USS Isla de Cuba in Charleston (South Carolina) was sold to the Republic of Venezuela , which acquired a military ship for the first time with the 26-year-old gunboat. It was renamed Mariscal Sucre after Marshall Antonio José de Sucre and served in the Venezuelan Navy until it was demolished in 1940.
proof
- ↑ a b c d e f The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Isla de Cuba
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , p. 384
- ↑ Nofi, p. 17ff.
- ↑ Reina Cristina , launched in 1887, 3,042 t, 6 160 mm cannons
- ↑ Castilla , launched in 1881, 3289 t, 4 150 mm and 2 120 mm cannons
- ↑ Navsource.org: USS Isla de Cuba 1905, 1910 and 1911 armament changes, postcard from 1908 with double funnel
literature
- John D. Alden: The American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the US Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet, 1907–1909 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland (1972), ISBN 0870212486 .
- Peter Brooke: Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships 1867-1927 , World Ship Society, Gravesend (1999), ISBN 0-905617-89-4
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Eds.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , Mayflower Books Inc., New York (1979), ISBN 0831703024 .
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland (1985), ISBN 0870219073 .
- Albert Nofi: The Spanish-American War , Combined Books Inc., Conshohocken, Pennsylvania (1996), ISBN 0938289578 .
Web links
- The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Isla de Cuba
- Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Spanish Navy Ships: Isla de Cuba (Cruiser, 1886-1898)
- Navsource.org: USS Isla de Cuba
- History of Isla de Cuba in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
- Crucero “Isla de Cuba” al servicio de la marina de tres países Venezuelan website about the cruiser with pictures