Canarias-Class

With Spain being neutral during the Second World War, these ships’ service lives are dominated by events during the Spanish Civil War between 17th July 1936 to 1st April 1939. Canarias secured her most significant victory during the opening months of the war when she battled the Republican destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz at 0640 on 29th November 1936. Canarias opened fire at a range of nearly 18km, hitting the destroyer after only the second salvo, causing a fire and destroyer gun mountings and some of the aft superstructure. The destroyer was preparing to torpedo the Canarias when the ammunition from the aft guns exploded, driving the men from their positions. The destroyer began evasive manoeuvres and started emitting a smoke screen, but Canarias had found her range and continued to pummel the hapless destroyer. By 0720 the destroyer was engulfed in flames, before a series of explosions sent her to the bottom, with only an oil slick and bits of debris to show she was even afloat. Canarias wasn’t even scratched.

Most of 1936 and 1937 were spent on minor patrols and coastal bombardment, interspersed with a refit where Canarias received her original intended armament (having been rushed to service following the outbreak of war). Baleares was similarly refitted, receiving the missing “Y” turret in June 1937.

In 1938, Canarias participated in the only major battle between the two main Republican and Nationalist fleets in the Battle of Cape Palos on the night of 5-6th March 1938. It was to be a bad night for Baleares. Using the gun flashes and searchlights of the heavy cruiser as a guide, the Republican warships hit Baleares with two or three torpedoes that detonated near the forward magazines. The torpedoes demolished the forward end of the vessel, the explosion tearing the mainmast off which then fell onto the aft turrets. Canarias narrowly avoided colliding with Baleares in the dark and confusion and Baleares sank quickly. British destroyers in the area rescued survivors while Soviet bombers scored near misses – falsely believing the British ships to be Spanish.

The final battle conducted by Canarias occurred in August 1938, when Canarias ran into the José Luis Díez, a Republican destroyer that had just finished being repaired. The destroyer was seriously damaged in the action and only barely made it to safety in Gibraltese waters.

Due to Spain’s neutrality, there was limited action during the Second World War, except for one notable incident when the Canarias and a couple of Spanish destroyers steamed to the aid of Bismarck following a blocked request from Admiral Raeder of the Kriegsmarine. However, they were too late and only found wreckage and the dead when they arrived.

The rest of her career was spent in peace, conducting patrols, and assisting in humanitarian efforts (such as the fire in Santander in 1941). She was refitted in the 1950s and 1960s, her single-trunked funnel becoming two straight funnels again (as was initially intended before her construction). Her anti-aircraft armament was modernised (as described earlier) and her torpedo tubes were landed sometime in the late 1940s. Her major role in the early Cold War was a political one, sailing to faraway lands in support of the Spanish cause, and engaging in colonial issues. However, she did get to fire her guns in anger again when she supported Spanish Legionnaires and Moorish Regulars with a bombardment of the Moroccan coast in late 1957. Her final voyage was in 1974 with much ceremony and many requests were made to turn the ship into a museum, but the funding wasn’t available and so in 1978 the vessel was sold for scrapping.

In 38 years of service, Canarias had steamed over 650,000 miles, participated in 50 war actions and numerous peacetime cruises, experienced 43 commanding officers and wore the flag of 30 admirals. She was the only treaty-era cruiser utilised for trade warfare to any significant degree and Baleares was the first treaty cruiser to be sunk, with Canarias being the last treaty cruiser to retire.