List of battleships of Spain In the latter half of the 19th century , the Spanish Navy had built a series of ironclad warship s that culminated in the barbette ship " Pelayo " in the 1880s . Following the destruction of much of the Spanish fleet in the Spanish – American War in 1898 , Spain slowly began to rebuild its navy . In the early 20th century , the Spanish Navy built three battleships and planned several more ; the three ships that were completed were the vessels of the . These ships were the smallest dreadnought - type battleships ever built . A further three ships of the were authorized by the Navy Law of 1913 , but the outbreak of World War I prevented these ships from being built , as Spain was heavily dependent on Great Britain for material and technical expertise . The three completed battleships all served in the Rif War in North Africa , where the lead ship , " España " , ran aground and was wrecked . Following the end of the First World War , occasional plans for the construction of new battleships were proposed , including a small design deriving from England ' s powerful s . However , nothing had come of these efforts by the time of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War . Following the victory of Francisco Franco ' s Nationalists in that conflict , in which both of the surviving Spanish battleships — one serving on the side of the Nationalists , the other on that of the Republicans — had been destroyed , proposals for the construction of four fast battleships to an Italian design , as well as the construction of " large cruisers " - the only battlecruiser designs proposed for or by Spain - were made . However , the outbreak of the Second World War resulted in these plans being disrupted . " España " class . Authorized under the Navy Law of 1908 and assigned to the " Primera Escuadra " ( First Squadron ) , the " España " class were the first and only Spanish dreadnought s , and also the smallest of that type of ship ever to be built . Considered by some to be more " Dreadnought - type coast - defense ships " than pure battleships , the three ships of the class were built in Ferrol by " Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval " ( SECN ) , the lead ship being completed in under four years , but the onset of World War I resulted in delays to the remaining two ships , and especially the third , as equipment and armament deliveries from England were disrupted due to the war . Obsolete before completion due to the rapid progress of naval technology , the " España " s saw combat service in the Rif War s and the Spanish Civil War , " España " being wrecked on the Moroccan coast in 1923 , " Alfonso XIII " being renamed " España " following the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931 . In the mid - 1930s , it was proposed that the two surviving ships of the class be rebuilt as " pocket battleships " , including a lengthening of the hull and rearranging of the turrets to a centreline alignment . By 1936 , a more modest rebuild was proposed , including conversion to oil firing , but the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War put this plan to rest . The remaining two ships of the class , one operating on each side , were both lost in the Spanish Civil War . " España " ( ex - " Alfonso XIII " ) , serving the Nationalist side , struck a mine in April 1937 and sunk , while " Jaime I " fighting as part of the Republican navy , suffered an internal explosion at Cartagena in June 1937 , being scuttled as a precautionary measure afterwards . The wreck was raised the following year before being scrapped in 1939 . " Reina Victoria Eugenia " class . Authorized as the " Plan de la Segunda Escuadra " under the Navy Law of 1913 , the three ships of the " Reina Victoria Eugenia " - class , named for King Alfonso ' s queen consort and designated ships " A " , " B " and " C " ( only " A " having a formally proposed name ) , were designed by Vickers - Armstrongs and were planned to displace with a speed of . Early plans for the type called for an armament of guns , however financial difficulties resulted in the selection of an armament of eight weapons instead . As significant technical assistance from Britain would have been required for construction of the class , the outbreak of the First World War led to the cancellation of the project . Postwar projects . Following the end of the First World War , Spain did not participate in the Washington Naval Conference which limited battleship construction for its signatories . Nevertheless , battleships of the displacement class — the limit under the Washington Naval Treaty — were considered by the Spanish Navy in the early 1920s . By the early 1930s , the navy made proposals for a " reduced type " ship , although nothing came of either project . After his victory in the Spanish Civil War , Francisco Franco ' s plans for the Spanish Navy included the acquisition of four modern battleships , and a variation on the Italian s was the favored candidate to fill the requirement . In late 1939 , a Spanish mission to Italy received assurances of technical support for the construction of ships of the class in Spanish yards , and a slipway of sufficient size to construct two ships at a time was built at Ferrol . However , Italy ' s entry into the Second World War in 1940 , combined with the limited resources of Spain , led to the cancellation of the project . A " super - Treaty cruiser " type was also projected as part of Franco ' s naval expansion plans , with some designs proposed for the type calling for an armament of six guns ; alternatively , some have speculated that the Spanish desired to purchase the two triple turrets that were available following the decision by the German " Kriegsmarine " to rebuild the damaged battleship with twin turrets . The war situation meant that nothing was to come of this project either .