Sagunto (1869)

Spanish Broadside Ironclad (1877-1987)

Sagunto was a wooden-hulled Armada Real armored frigate ordered as a ship of the line back in 1858, and reconverted in 1862-69, then commissioned in 1877. A very lengthy construction at the Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, punctuated by many design flaws and corrections resulting eventually in a short service life of just ten years, when decommissioned in 1887, stricken from the register in 1891. Named after the second Punic war Siege of Saguntum, she had imported steam engine and main battery. The major issue was that not only she was desperately obsolete in 1877, her wooden hull was already rotten in her unremarkable service, being dried up as far as the 1850s.

Design

Still Debated Origins:

Sources are conflicting on this ship. Sagunto was for one, ordered in December 1862 as a 100-gun ship of the line “Principe Don Alfonso”. She was originally laid down at the Reales Astilleros de Esteiro in Ferrol, Spain, on 21 March 1863. Later she was renamed Sagunto in 1868 while in convertion, to a central battery ironclad, to be launched on 26 April 1869, commissioned on 1 February 1877.

According to another source (including most Spanish ones), she was laid down instead as early as 1858 as the 100-gun “Principe Alfonso”. Then in 1860, the Spanish government decided to converted her as an armored frigate instead, authorized on 5 October 1862. The added cost was a staggering 1,401,151 pesetas. She was renamed “Sagunto” on 13 October 1868, launched on 26 April 1869, so the latter date is the only one all agrees.

Hull & Layout:

Segunto was built originally in wood, so she was at the limit of wooden vessels structurally at the time. Her hull measured 89.5 meters (293 ft 8 in) long at the waterline for a beam of 17.3 meters (56 ft 9 in) and draft of 8.4 meters (27 ft 7 in). The hull ratio was 5/1. She displaced 7,352 metric tons (7,236 long tons). Her ram bow was in the British style, not too pronounced, in a half moon. Her crew amounted to 554 officers and enlisted men. She had lavish interiors as usual in the officers quarters aft. The grand banquet room in particular was modular and that proved well suited later when the Royal Family travelled on her board.

Armour Protection:

-Waterline belt, complete wrought iron, 150-millimeter (5.9 in) in thickness.
-Upper batterie belt, 150-millimeter (5.9 in).
-Ends and deck unarmored. Steering vulnerable and battery under raking fire.
-No conning tower.

Powerplant:

Originally Sagunto was given a two-bladed, then four bladed screw propeller, which was driven by two imported Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée compound-expansion steam engines. Steam came from eight cylindrical boilers. These engines were rated at 1,000 horsepower (746 kW) which makes for 3,700 indicated horsepower (2,759 kW). Top speed was 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph). She carried no less than 900 metric tons (886 long tons) of coal but range was probably around 1000-1200 nm. Of course, it was unlimited when using her unchanged three-masted ship rig. The sail area was 2,400 square meters (26,000 sq ft).

As a steamship, she was supposed to reach from 10 to 12.5 knots (18.5 to 23.2 km/h; 11.5 to 14.4 mph). But sea trials were properly catastrophic, as she could not make better than 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph). This led to a serie of modifications that delayed her greatly. First off, her stern and propeller were changed to try to correct the problem, and indeed she then managed to reach 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph).

Armament:

Sagunto was intended to to have at first in 1860-62, some thirty 200-millimeter (7.9 in) smoothbore guns, all on the broadside. Instead she was completed as a central battery ship with eight single Armstrong-Whitworth 229-millimeter (9 in) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns. Four per side, all on the main deck in a central-battery. There was an upper deck also well protected in which were located two broadside firing Trubia 180-millimeter (7.1 in) RML guns. A third was located as a chase gun forward in the forecastle. By 1883, the Trubia guns were replaced by British Palliser RMLs to fire explosive shells.

Career of Sagunto

Her problems, fixes and long completion were not helped by the chaotic situation in Spain at the time. She was thus renamed “Amadeo I” by Royal Order of 13 February 1871. Then a new government change led to her being renamed Sagunto again on 4 March 1873. After a hard time to finance her, find workers and materials, she was eventually completed in 1877. This was… 19 years after she was laid down as a ship of the line, 15 years after being ordered as an ironclad. Total construction cost was 7,230,049 pesetas, an absurdly large amount for a ship that would have ten years service.
Spain was not done with construction times like this, having similar situations with ships built from 1939 onwards, notably the Ocquendo class. The most damning thing about Sagunto was her layout as a hybrid central battery ship at a time steam only steel turret or barbette ships were all the rage.

Records are unknown for 1877-79, she probably started training, making short cruises and gunnery drills. In 1880, Sagunto was assignment to the Training Squadron under Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) José Polo de Bernabé y Mordella. This assignation is usually given to ships at the end of their career, having lost their usefulness in first line. In the summer of 1881, Sagunto and Zaragoza, the screw frigates Almansa, Carmén, Villa de Madrid, screw corvette Tornado, screw schooner Concordia, gunboat Pelícano were sent to cruise off Galicia for a visit by King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Christina.

Sagunto was Polo de Bernabé’s flagship to lead maneuvers in front of the King on 9 August. The King and entourage and the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Francisco de Paula Pavía Pavía were on her board on 13 August for the last leg to La Coruña and then Villagarcía de Arosa on 15 August. On the 18th, she departed Marín with the monarchs, which disembarked at Vigo, on 19 August. On the 25th they boarded Pelícano to visit Bayonne in France. The Monarchs Alfonso XII and Maria Christina ended this squadron trip to Santander, having boarded Sagunto again. The Villa de Madrid remained behind at Vigo. The squadron then proceeded to Ferrol by late August 1881.

Her whereabouts in 1882-84 are unknown, probably a partial reserve, and yearly exercises for a brief period. By 1885, Sagunto seemed to leak abundantly, and it was decided to have her drydocked for examination. The verdict was clear: Her wooden hull was entirely rotten. Being no longer seaworthy and too obsolete to be of any use, the guns were partially removed, and she was placed in reserve in 1886. She was declared obsolete in 1887, then stricken from the naval register in 1891. In February 1893, she was sold off at auction, for naught. The Armada then hulked her as a floating jetty until 1896. At last, a scrap dealer in Palma de Mallorca acquired her to recycle her armour and other metallic items in 1897, shortly before the Hispano-American war. If modernized, she could have been of some use as coastal defence ship, but her antiquated wooden hull was her undoing.

Read More/Src

Books

Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). Ironclads at War: Origin and Development 1854–1891. Combined Publishing.
Lyon, Hugh (1979). “Spain”. In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press.
de Saint Hubert, Christian (1984). “Early Spanish Steam Warships, Part II”. Warship International. XXI (1)
Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World’s Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books.
Brassey, Thomas (1888). The Naval Annual 1887. Portsmouth, England: J. Griffin.

Links

alojados.revistanaval.com
https://web.archive.org/web/20080406132534/http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/appmanager/ArmadaPortal/ArmadaPortal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ap_page_buquesSuperficie_buque&pathNodo=%2FBEA+Repository%2Fdesktop_armada_portal%2Fap_book_main%2Fcc_ap_book_buques%2Faa_ap_book_buques_superficie%2FAH_Portaaviones%2FAA_PrincipeAsturias
todoavante.es/
en.wikipedia.org Spanish_ironclad_Sagunto