Spanish destroyer Sánchez Barcáiztegui

Sánchez Barcáiztegui was a Churruca-class destroyer of the Spanish Republican Navy. She took part in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the government of the Second Spanish Republic.

Destroyer Sánchez Barcaiztegui
History
Spain
Name: Sánchez Barcáiztegui
Namesake: Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui
Builder: SECN, Naval Dockyard, Cartagena, Spain
Launched: 24 July 1926
Completed: 1928
Commissioned: 1928
Decommissioned: 1 July 1964
Honours and
awards:		 Distintivo de Madrid 1938
Fate: Scrapped in 1965
General characteristics
Class and type: Churruca-class destroyer
Displacement: 1,650 t (1,620 long tons) (normal); 2,067 t (2,034 long tons) (maximum)
Length: 101 m (331 ft 4 in)
Beam: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Height: 6.02 m (19 ft 9 in)
Draft: 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Installed power: 42,000 shp (31,000 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:
  • 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
  • 3,100 nmi (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement: 160
Armament:

She was named in honor of Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui, a Spanish Navy Teniente de Navío (lieutenant) who took part in the Battle of Callao and was killed in action in the Battle of Motrico during the Third Carlist War.

Service history

Pre-Spanish Civil War

Barcáiztegui was launched in Cartagena, Spain in 1926 and commissioned in 1928. She was anchored in Barcelona harbor in 1934, during which time she served as the prison for Manuel Azaña after the Asturian uprising.

Spanish Civil War

Following the coup of July 1936, the captain took the side of the Nationalists and rebelled, but the crew remained loyal to the Second Spanish Republic and they took over the ship.

Sánchez Barcáiztegui took first part in the blockade of the Gibraltar Strait, then joined a Spanish Republican Navy task force led by the battleship Jaime I that included cruisers Libertad and Miguel de Cervantes, destroyers Almirante Valdés, Almirante Antequera, Almirante Miranda, Alsedo, José Luis Díez, Lepanto, Lazaga, and three C-class submarines. This fleet entered the Cantabrian Sea where Spanish Republican Army troops were isolated from the remaining Republican-controlled territories. All ships, except Ciscar, which had been requisitioned by the Basque Auxiliary Navy, José Luis Díez, two C and two B-class submarines, returned to the Mediterranean Sea.

Sánchez Barcáiztegui took part in the Battle of Cape Palos where she, together with Almirante Antequera and Lepanto, engaged the cruiser Baleares, firing four torpedoes.[1] Sánchez Barcáiztegui was awarded the Distintivo de Madrid along with other vessels.[2]

On 5 March 1939, Sánchez Barcáíztegui was seriously damaged by a bomb after being attacked by five Nationalist Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s medium bombers; the attack also damaged destroyers Alcalá Galiano and Lazaga.

Post-war

Barcáiztegui was refloated in 1940, repaired by the Nationalists, and recommissioned, serving until decommissioned in 1964. She was scrapped in 1965.

Notes
  1. It is probable that Baleares was actually sunk by Lepanto.
  2. Domingo, Enrique García. "Recompensas republicanas por el hundimiento del Baleares" (PDF). Revista de Historia Naval 1997 Año XV. p. 70. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2013.

References
  • Flórez, Dionisio García. Buques de la Guerra Civil Española. Destructores (in Spanish). ISBN 84-932284-7-8.
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