Isla de Luzon
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 The cruiser Isla de Luzon |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard |
Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. , Elswick , Building N ° 497 |
| Keel laying | February 25, 1886 |
| Launch | November 13, 1886 |
| Namesake | Luzon , the main island of the Philippines |
| Commissioning | September 22, 1887 |
| Whereabouts | self-sunk on May 1, 1898 1900–1919 gunboat USS Isla de Luzon |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1038 ts, 1053 ts upon acceptance |
| 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 15.9 kn |
| Armament |
• 4 × 120 mm González Hontoria cannons |
| Armor deck |
|
| Command tower |
50 mm |
|
Armament from 1900 |
4 × 102 mm L / 40 cannons, |
|
Armament from 1914 |
4 × 76 mm rapid fire guns replace the 102 mm cannons |
| Sister ships | |
The Isla de Luzón was the lead ship of 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 Luzon . First it was used in combat with the Filipino rebels. From 1903 she was a training ship for reserve forces and was stationed on the Great Lakes from 1914 to autumn 1918.
In 1920 the formerly Spanish Isla de Luzón was sold to the Bahama & West Indies Trading Co. and renamed Reviver . In 1931 the former Spanish cruiser was canceled.
Building history
The Isla de Luzón was built at the British shipyard Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. in Elswick near Newcastle-upon-Tyne at a price of 2.4 million pesetas. It was a scaled-down version of the Dogali that Armstrong eventually delivered to the Italian Navy . The company also tried to sell a ship of the line and a larger cruiser to Spain, but only received the order for two small 3rd class cruisers in January 1886. The Thomsons shipyard in Clydebank and received the order for a larger cruiser ( Reina Regente , 4664 ts) Armstrong sold his design to the US Navy, which then built the USS Baltimore at Cramp .
After the keel was laid on February 25, 1886, Isla de Luzón was launched on November 13, 1886 and was completed by September 22, 1887. The small protected cruiser had a steel hull and a funnel. The ship was very wide for its length and showed only moderate sea characteristics, as the bow was easily buried by waves. Because of its small size, the cruiser was mostly referred to as a gunboat in 1898 .
The Isla de Luzón was armed with four 120 mm cannons of the Spanish type González Hontoria, plus four Hotchkiss rapid-fire guns manufactured under license by Armstrong , a machine gun and three 356 mm torpedo tubes.
Mission history
After its completion, which was Isla de Luzon from 6 January 1888 along with her sister ship Isla de Cuba from Newcastle transferred to the Spanish Mediterranean fleet. The two cruisers took part in the Rif War in 1893/94 and shot at land targets between Melilla and Chafarinos . When the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896, they were sent to the Philippines and there parts of the squadron under Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón .
The Isla de Luzon was among Montojo's squadron, as the American Spanish War in April 1898 broke out. She was 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 her sister ship Isla de Cuba went alongside under heavy American fire to help the flagship.
Since Montojo's squadron was badly damaged, the Isla de Luzón was sunk in shallow water by the crew to prevent it from being taken over by the Americans. She had received three hits, one of which had destroyed the nose gun. Six men of the crew were wounded. Their superstructures remained afloat after the sinking, and the gunboat USS Petrel put a group on board, which set the sunken Spanish ship on fire. The sister ship Isla de Cuba 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 Singapore , where it was repaired. In 1900, the repaired ship came into service in the United States as the gunboat USS Isla de Luzon . The US Navy did the same with Isla de Cuba , although it was repaired in Hong Kong.
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The USS Isla de Luzon entered service in the United States Navy on January 31, 1900 under Commander JVB Bleecker. The Spanish 120mm guns had been removed and replaced with 4-inch 102mm guns that stood on the foredeck and poop.
She was stationed in Zamboanga and supported land and sea operations against the Filipino insurgents. The Isla de Luzon belonged to the Southern Squadron, which cut the insurgents from their supplies on Samar , assisted the capture of Vicente Lukbán , the leader of the rebels of Samar, and carried out the tight blockade of Samar, all of which accelerated the conclusion of a ceasefire. At times, the Isla de Luzon was used together with the Isla de Cuba .
On August 15, 1902, Isla de Luzon left Cavite to march for the United States. When visiting Muscat , Oman , members of the crew painted the “Isla de Luzon” on the steep cliffs at the entrance of the port, according to an old tradition. This painting was later regularly renewed by visiting US Navy ships. After passing through the Suez Canal and visiting Mediterranean ports, the Isla de Luzon reached Pensacola (Florida) on March 16, 1903 . Until December 6, 1903 it belonged to the local naval shipyard .
Then it was only assigned to the Louisiana Naval Militia , from 1914 the Illinois Naval Militia on the Great Lakes . In 1911 the old gunboat received new Babcock & Wilcox boilers and two very thin chimneys. During her service the armament was changed several times.
When the United States entered the First World War in April 1917, the Isla de Luzon in Chicago was stationed as a training ship for the Great Lakes. She stayed there until she arrived at Narragansett Bay on September 30, 1918 to train gunners at Naval Torpedo Station . After installing new torpedo tubes, she served on the firing range in Narragansett Bay from November 13, 1918 to December 13, 1918.
On February 15, 1919, the USS Isla de Luzon was decommissioned and an auxiliary vehicle for Naval Torpedo Station, Newport , until it was finally canceled on July 23, 1919.
Final fate
On March 10, 1920, the Isla de Luzon was sold to the Bahama & West Indies Trading Co. , New York , and renamed Reviver and used as a salvage ship. In 1931 the ship was scrapped.
The sister ships
The Isla de Luzon had two sister ships:
- the Isla de Cuba , also built in Elswick, launched on December 11, 1886 and completed on September 22, 1887. Their use in the Spanish Navy was largely the same as that of the Isla de Luzon type ship . It was also sunk by the Spanish occupation itself after the Battle of Manila , later raised by the American conquerors of the Philippines and put into service as the gunboat USS Isla de Cuba . On April 2, 1912, it was sold to Venezuela . Under the name Mariscal Sucre , after Marshal Antonio José de Sucre , she served in the Venezuelan Navy until it was demolished in 1940.
- the Marqués de la Ensenada , which was built in the Arsenal de la Carraca of Cádiz . Construction began in July 1887 and was launched on February 25, 1890. On February 1, 1894, the cruiser was taken into service with the Spanish Navy. From 1897 to 1899 he was used to defend Cuba . After her return, the Marqués de la Ensenada was disarmed in 1900 and broken up in 1913.
proof
- ↑ Brooks, p. 65.
- ↑ a b c d e f The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Isla de Luzon
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , p. 384.
- ↑ Nofi, p. 17ff.
- ↑ Reina Cristina , launched in 1887, 3042 t, 6-160 mm cannons
- ↑ Castilla , launched in 1881, 3289 t, 4-150mm and 2-120mm cannons
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , p. 166.
- ↑ see Navsource.org: USS Isla de Luzon 1905 and 1911 changes
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 0-87021-248-6 .
- Peter Brook: 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 0-8317-0302-4 .
- Randal Gray (Ed.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland (1985), ISBN 0-87021-907-3 .
- Albert Nofi: The Spanish-American War , Combined Books Inc., Conshohocken, Pennsylvania (1996), ISBN 0-938289-57-8 .
Web links
- The Spanish-American War Centennial Website: Isla de Luzon
- Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Spanish Navy Ships: Isla de Luzon (Cruiser, 1886–1898)
- Navsource.org: USS Isla de Luzon
- History of Isla de Luzon in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)