Spanish destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz

History
Spain
Name:	Almirante Ferrandiz
Namesake:	José Ferrándiz y Niño
Builder:	SECN, Naval Dockyard, Cartagena, Spain
Completed:	1929
Commissioned:	1929
Decommissioned:	1936
Fate:	1936 sunk by the Spanish nationalist cruiser Canarias
General characteristics
Class & type:	Churruca-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,650 tons (normal); 2,067 tons (maximum)
Length:	101 m (331 ft 4 in)
Beam:	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught:	3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Installed power:	4 Yarrow boilers 42,000 hp (31,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 Parsons turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h)
Range:	5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) 3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement:	160
Armament:	5 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L45 (5x1) 1 × 76 mm (3 in) anti-aircraft gun 4 × machineguns 6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (2x3) 2 × depth charge racks

Almirante Ferrándiz was a Churruca-class destroyer in the Spanish Republican Navy. She took part in the Spanish Civil War on the government side.

She was named in honor of José Ferrándiz y Niño, a Spanish Admiral and former Navy Minister.

History

Almirante Ferrándiz took part in the Gibraltar Strait blockade. When a Republican squadron penetrated the Cantabrian Sea to relieve Republican troops isolated in the north, she remained in the strait with Gravina to stop any movement of Nationalist troops between Africa and the Iberian peninsula.

In response, the nationalist heavy cruiser Canarias (which Republicans believed had been damaged by a bomb) and light cruiser Almirante Cervera were sent to break the blockade.

On 29 September 1936, at the Battle of Cape Espartel, Canarias opened fire from 16 kilometres (8.6 nmi), and hit Almirante Ferrándiz with her second salvo. Ferrándiz continued sailing away from Canarias, but the heavy cruiser struck her again with a third salvo, at 20 km (11 nmi). The destroyer took a total of six hits from Canarias's 200 mm (8 in) main armament and sank 33 km (18 nmi) off Calaburras with most of her crew. Canarias stopped to rescue 31 sailors from Almirante Ferrándiz and authorized a French merchantman to pick up others.

References

• Dionisio García Flórez. Buques de la Guerra Civil Española. Destructores" (Spanish Civil War Ships, destroyers) (in spanish). Library. ISBN 84-932284-7-8.
• Alejandro Ramírez (2003). La Batalla del Estrecho (The battle in the strait) (in spanish). Grupo Publicaciones del Sur. ISBN 84-95813-09-2.
• Hugh Thomas (2001). The Spanish Civil War. Modern Library. ISBN 0-375-75515-2.

External links

• Destroyers of the Spanish civil war (in Spanish)
• Wrecksite, Spanish Republican Navy (1936-39)

Coordinates: 36°14′47″N 4°38′30″W / 36.24639°N 4.64167°W