page_title: España-class battleship
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: España-class battleship / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: navalbattlesofam00ship (find matches) Title: Naval battles of America; great and decisive contests on the sea from colonial times to the present, including our glorious victories at Manila and Santiago; Year: 1905 (1900s) Authors: Shippen, Edward, 1826- (from old catalog) Subjects: United States. Navy Publisher: Philadelphia, P. W. Ziegler co Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: gloomily dark. For the sake of her gal-lant mates, this ship shall be nameless. She had hauleddown her colors about the same time that the Ulloa hadrefused to do so, and had gone down with them all aflut-ter. A boats crew from the McCulloch was signaled togo and take possession of this ship, when to our amaze-ment she opened fire on the approaching gig. The en-sign stood up in the stern in open-mouthed wonder atsuch a piece of treachery, but kept his boat along hercourse. The incident had not passed unobserved by thesquadron, however, and the Spaniards fate was a swiftone. There was no need for the Commodore to fly asignal, for it was as with a common impulse that everyone of our vessels stopped firing at the enemy in general,and directed every available shot at that Spaniard inparticular. The bay leaped up and foamed around thetraitorous vessel as though it had been struck by thewhip-end of a Texas tornado, and when the waters wereat rest again the Spaniard had vanished as completely Text Appearing After Image: Deweys triumph at Manila. 369 as though that tornado had carried her bodily into aneighboring State. At 12.20 P. M. the signal, We surrender! wasshown from Cavite. The dazzling work was done, thebattle ended after five hours of spectacular fighting.His work of destruction completed, Dewey now turnedto a task of mercy—that of rescuing and caring for thevanquished. These he established in hospitals on shore.To Admiral Montojo he sent the following message: I have pleasure in clasping your hand and offeringmy congratulations on the gallant manner in which youfought. Dewey had seen hot work before. He received hisbaptism of fire in the old steam-sloop Mississippi,under Farragut, in the early days of the civil war. Buthe had never been called to confront such problems ascame with the responsibility of victory. He had crushedthe naval power of Spain in the East. But the Spanisharmy lay intact in Manila, whose conquest was desirable,but impossible without an army to occupy the place.Manila Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The España class was a series of three dreadnought battleships that were built for the Spanish Navy between 1909 and 1921: España, Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I. The ships were ordered as part of an informal mutual defense agreement with Britain and France, and were built with British support. The construction of the ships, particularly the third vessel, was significantly delayed by shortages of materiel supplied by the UK during World War I, particularly armaments; Jaime I was almost complete in May 1915 but her guns were not delivered until 1919. The ships were the only dreadnoughts completed by Spain and were the smallest of the type built by any country. The class's limited displacement was necessitated by the constraints imposed by the weak Spanish economy and existing naval infrastructure, requiring compromises on armor and speed to incorporate a main battery of eight 12-inch guns.
  España represented Spain during the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 and conducted training exercises with Alfonso XIII after she entered service later that year.
context_section_description: The Spanish public blamed the Navy for the country's disastrous losses in the Spanish–American War of 1898 but recognized the need to modernize and rebuild it. The first attempt to rebuild the Navy came in the Fleet Plan of 1903, which called for a fleet centered on seven 15,000-metric-ton (14,763-long-ton) battleships and three 10,000-metric-ton (9,842-long-ton) cruisers. This plan proved to be too ambitious for the weak Spanish economy and an unstable Spanish parliament was unable to provide funding. The Fleet Plan of 1905 proposed a fleet of eight 14,000 t (13,779-long-ton) battleships, a number of torpedo boats, and submarines; this plan also fell victim to the weaknesses of the Spanish government and a lack of public support. International developments, particularly conflicts with Germany in the First Moroccan Crisis, provided the impetus and public support necessary for the Spanish government to embark on a major naval construction program.
  In April 1904, Britain and France reached the Entente Cordiale, putting aside their traditional rivalry to oppose German expansionism. The agreement directly affected Spain because it settled matters of control over Morocco and placed Tangier under joint British–French–Spanish control. The agreement brought Spain closer with Britain and France, leading to an exchange of notes between the three governments in May 1907, by which time a strong cabinet led by Antonio Maura had come to power. The notes created an informal agreement to contain the German-led Central Powers; Britain would concentrate the bulk of the Royal Navy in the North Sea while Spain would contribute its fleet to support the French Navy against the combined fleets of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Britain and France would provide technical assistance to develop new warships for the Spanish fleet. Accordingly, Mauro secured passage of the Fleet Plan of 1907, which proposed the construction of three battleships, several destroyers, torpedo boats, and other craft. The construction plan was to last for eight years. Debates over the plan took place in the Cortes Generales (General Courts—the Spanish legislature) until the end of November and a final approval vote on 2 December. The 1907 Fleet Plan was formally signed into law on 7 January 1908.
caption: Sketch of the destroyed Spanish squadron after the Battle of Manila Bay
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