Spanish cruiser Aragón
.jpg) Aragón | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} Spain | |
| Name | Aragon |
| Namesake | The Kingdom of Aragon |
| Ordered | January 1869 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain |
| Laid down | 2 May 1869 |
| Launched | 31 July 1879 |
| Completed | 1880 |
| Commissioned | 1880 |
| Decommissioned | December 1898 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Aragon-class unprotected cruiser |
| Displacement | 3,289 tons |
| Length | 236 ft 0 in (71.93 m) |
| Beam | 44 ft 0 in (13.41 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) maximum |
| Installed power | 1,400 ihp (1,000 kW) |
| Propulsion | 1-shaft, 3-cylinder, horizontal compound |
| Sail plan | barque-rigged |
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Range | 1,660 nmi (3,070 km; 1,910 mi) |
| Complement | 392 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | 460 tons of coal (normal) |
Aragón was a Spanish Navy Aragon-class unprotected cruiser in commission from 1880 to 1898. After early service in home waters she spent time on colonial duties in the Philippines before she was relegated to auxiliary service in Spain.
Technical characteristics
Aragón was built at the naval shipyard at Cartagena, Spain. Her construction as an armored corvette with a central battery ironclad design began on 2 May 1869, with plans to give her 890 tons of armor and 500 millimetres (20 in) of armor at the waterline. Political events delayed her construction. In 1870, her design was changed to that of an unprotected cruiser or wooden corvette,[1][2] and she finally was launched in this form on 31 July 1879 and completed in 1880[1] Her original conception as an armored ship and the change to an unarmored one during construction left her with an overly heavy wooden hull that was obsolescent by the time of her launch.[3]
Designed for colonial service,[2] Aragón had two funnels and was rigged as a barque.[3] Her machinery was manufactured by the John Penn Company of Greenwich, United Kingdom.[1] The original main battery of Armstrong-built 8-inch (203 mm) guns was obsolescent when she was completed, and were quickly replaced with more modern Hontoria-built 6.4-inch (163 mm) guns (a heavier main battery than that carried by her two sisters Castilla and Navarra), at least four of which were mounted in sponsons.[3]
Operational history
On 1 July 1882 Aragón got underway from Cartagena, Spain, on a training voyage for midshipmen in European waters.[4]
With her arrival at Manila on Luzon in the autumn of 1882, Aragón began a deployment in the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies.[4] On 26 October 1882, a Spanish squadron composed of Aragón, the unprotected cruisers Gravina and Velasco, the screw corvette Vencedora, the screw schooner Sirena, and the gunboats Arayak and Paragua 2[4][5] got underway from Manila for operations against the Jolo pirates, carrying a landing force consisting of 490 Spanish Marine Infantry personnel and naval infantrymen, 105 men of the Iberia Infantry Regiment, 111 men of the Jolo Infantry Regiment, and 100 men of a Manila disciplinary company.[4][6][7] After the squadron reconnoitered the coast, fighting began when the landing force went ashore at Looc on 29 October 1882.[4][5][7] On 30 October the Spanish force landed at Padang-Padang.[4][7] After conducting several raids, the troops returned to the ships and landed at Boal on 8 November 1882.[4][7] The squadron and troops returned to Manila in mid-November 1882.[6]
During 1883, Aragón made several voyages to Japan, including a visit to Nagasaki in May 1883.[4] Aragón, Gravina, Sirena, Vencedora, and Paragua 2 mounted another expedition against pirates in Jolo in November 1883, with Aragón serving as flagship.[4][5] On 7 November, the ships bombarded Looc and the vicinity of Tapucan and Panlau-Panlau, then landed a force composed of two companies of Spanish Army soldiers totaling 810 men, a disciplinary company of 150 men, 70 convicts, Spanish marine infantrymen, and 400 sailors from the ships' crews.[5] On 8 November the Spanish operations expanded to Boad.[5] The Spanish force suffered two dead and 10 wounded.[5] After reembarking the landing force, the ships returned to Zamboanga on 9 November 1883.[5]
Aragón was flagship of the Cavite naval station in Manila Bay in 1886 during a diplomatic crisis between Spain and the German Empire over the status of the Caroline Islands,[4] although in the end no conflict broke out. In 1886, Aragón participated in operations against Moro pirates on the Rio Grande de Mindanao, also known as the Mindanao River, on Mindanao, along with Sirena, the schooner Valiente, the gunboats Basco, Bulusan, Gardoqui, Pampanga, Panay, Paragua, Samar, and Urdaneta, and the transport San Quintín. The ships carried 3,400 Spanish Army soldiers, 10 field guns, and other equipment to Mindanao. The campaign failed to achieve its objectives, so on 19 January 1887 Aragón, several smaller warships, two transports, and five merchant ships launched a new offensive operation in Mindanao which concluded in March 1887.[4]
Replaced in the Philippines by her sister ship Castilla, Aragón departed Manila on 5 April 1890 to return to Spain. After passing through the Suez Canal, she arrived at Barcelona, Spain, on 3 June 1890. Thereafter she was relegated to duties as an auxiliary ship and became the training ship for the Cádiz naval department.[4][1] She was hulked as a floating depot in either 1896[1] or 1897,[4] according to different sources.
Decommissioning and disposal
Aragón was decommissioned in December 1898.[4] Sources differ on her ultimate fate, stating that she was sold for scrap in 1900[4][1] and that she was stricken c. 1905[3]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Mitiuckov, Nick (n.d.). "Spanish Wooden Cruisers". The Spanish-American War Centennial Website. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
- ^ a b Díaz Díaz, Francisco José (n.d.). "Spanish Cruiser Castilla". The Spanish-American War Centennial Website. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
- ^ a b c d Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, p. 383.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Aragon (1880)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Vencedora (1862)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 11 April 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Gravina_(1882)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Velasco (1882)". todoavante.es (in Spanish). 26 April 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
Bibliography
- Bordejé y Morencos, Fernando de (1995). Crónica de la Marina española en el siglo XIX, 1868–1898, Tomo II [Chronicle of the Spanish Navy in the 19th Century, 1868–1898, Volume II] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministry of Defence.
- Lledó Calabuig, José (1997). Buques de vapor de la Armada española. Del vapor de ruedas a la fragata acorazada, 1834–1885 [Steamships of the Spanish Navy: From Paddle Steamers to Armored Frigates, 1834–1885] (in Spanish). Madrid: Agualarga Editores.
- Llorente Chala, Juan Carlos; Serrano, Luis Valls (2005). Las Carolinas Orientales: 1890. La última victoria española en el Pacífico antes del eclipse [The Eastern Caroline Islands 1890: The Last Spanish Victory in the Pacific Before the Eclipse] (in Spanish). Madrid: LSV & JCLL Editores.
- Lyon, Hugh (1979). Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books Inc. ISBN 0-83170-302-4.
- Nofi, Albert A. (1996). The Spanish–American War, 1898. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Combined Books. ISBN 0-938289-578.
- Rivas Fabal, José Enrique (2007). Historia de la Infantería de Marina española. Tomo II [History of the Spanish Marine Infantry. Volume II] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministry of Defence.
- St. Hubert, Ch. (1983). "The Early Spanish Steam Warships 1834-1870". Warship International. No. 4. pp. 338–367.
- St. Hubert, Ch. (1984). "The Early Spanish Steam Warships 1834-1870". Warship International. No. 1. pp. 21–44.
External links
- Naval History and Heritage Command NH 86612 ARAGON (photo of Aragón)