Spanish battleship España España was a Spanish dreadnought battleship , the lead ship of her her class . She had two sister ships , " Alfonso XIII " and " Jaime I " . " España " was built by the SECN shipyard ; she was laid down in December 1909 , launched in February 1912 , and completed in October 1913 . She was armed with a main battery of eight guns and had a top speed of " España " served in the 1st Squadron after her commissioning , along with her two sisters . Spain remained neutral during World War I , so the Spanish fleet did not see action during the conflict . " España " provided gunfire support during the Rif War in the early 1920s . During these operations , she ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas , Morocco in August 1923 . The Navy was unable to raise the ship , and severe storms destroyed the wreck in 1924 , which led the Navy to abandon her . Technical characteristics . " España " was long at the waterline and long overall . She had a beam of and a draft of ; her freeboard was amidships . Her propulsion system consisted of four - shaft Parsons steam turbines and twelve Yarrow boilers . The engines were rated at and produced a top speed of . " España " had a cruising radius of at a speed of . Her crew consisted of 854 officers and enlisted men . " España " was armed with a main battery of eight / 50 guns , mounted in four twin gun turret s . One turret was placed forward , two were positioned en echelon amidships , and the fourth was aft of the superstructure . This mounting scheme was chosen in preference to superimposed turrets , as was done in the s , to save weight and cost . Her secondary battery consisted of twenty guns mounted in casemate s along the length of the hull . They were too close to the waterline , however , which made them unusable in heavy seas . She was also armed with four 3 - pounder guns and two machine guns . Her armored belt was thick amidships ; the main battery turrets were protected with the same amount of armor plate . The conning tower had thick sides . Her armored deck was thick . Service history . The Navy Law of 7 January 1908 authorized construction of " España " . She was laid down at the " Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval " shipyard in Ferrol on 6 December 1909 . She was launched on 5 February 1912 , and completed on 23 October 1913 . After their completion , " España " and her sisters , " Alfonso XIII " and " Jaime I " , the three battleships formed the 1st Squadron of the Spanish fleet . Spain remained neutral after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , so " España " and her sisters were the only European dreadnoughts to avoid the war . In mid - 1915 , " España " crossed the Atlantic to represent Spain at the opening ceremonies for the Panama Canal . Since the major European navies were occupied with World War I , only Spain and Portugal sent ships to the ceremonies . In 1920 " España " carried the Spanish representative to the quatercentenary of the discovery of the Straits of Magellan in Chile , in the process becoming the Spanish Navy ' s first ship to pass through the Panama Canal . On 29 January 1921 she ran aground in Chilean waters off Puerto Montt on her return to Spain , though she was refloated with some difficulty . Her hull was dented badly for a length of , and the rocks tore a large hole that was approximately between frames 22 and 36 , and several smaller holes between frames 48 to 56 on the port side and 58 to 76 on the starboard side . Divers effected temporary repairs with concrete in Chile , followed by permanent repairs that were made in Balboa , Panama before she made her return voyage across the Atlantic . During this period , she was assigned to the Training Squadron , along with her two sister ships . Throughout the early 1920s , she provided fire support to the Spanish Army in its campaigns in Morocco during the Rif War . While conducting a bombardment off Cape Tres Forcas near Melilla on 26 August 1923 , she ran hard aground . The Spanish Navy hired two salvage companies to refloat the battleship , but both declined after they surveyed the wreck . Unable to raise her , the Spanish decided to remove as much weight as possible from " España " in an attempt to lighten her to permit refloating . Her guns were removed and dropped overboard to be picked up later by the salvage vessel " Kanguro " . The battleship ' s armor , machinery , and ammunition stores were also removed to lighten her . Her hull was then sealed and partially drained in preparation for raising , but while waiting for the necessary equipment from Italy , several violent storms hit the ship and caused further damage . The battered hull could now no longer be raised , and in November 1924 , she broke in half and was abandoned by the Spanish Navy . The 305 mm and 102 mm guns recovered from " España " were installed in coastal batteries , some of which remained in service until 1999 before they were retired from service . After the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII , his namesake ship " Alfonso XIII " , was renamed " España " in April 1931 .