Zaragoza (1867)

Spanish Broadside Ironclad (1868-1896)

Zaragoza was a Royal Spanish Navy (Armada Real) wooden-hulled armored frigate ordered in 1860, built at the Royal Arsenal of Cartagena and completed in 1868. She had a relatively uneventful career after the 3rd Carlist War, being modernized in 1889. In 1892, she became a torpedo training ship, and was stricken in 1896.

Design of the class

About the development of that ship, looked at previous Ironclads, the Numancia (1863), Tetuan (1863), Vitoria (1865) and Arapiles (1864). They were initiated after a long process and really quickstarted with the appearance in 1859, of the the French armored frigate Gloire. The Armada until then counted on its frigates and still in 1860 had two 85-guns ships of the line, Reina Doña Isabel II, Rey Don Francisco de Asís, four 74-guns and three large screw frigates, four sailing frigates and many sloops, corvettes, gunboats and bricks to attend to its empire, even after the loss of South America (which substantially reduced its budgetary capabilities) the Armada wanted to maintain its world spanning power status.

Under Queen Isabel II, her navy advisor urged the obtention of a 1861 naval program to give the Armada at least four broadside ironclads. Naval renovation for Spain became a golden opportunity to recover its lost prestige and place after the debacle of Trafalgar in 1805. The Queen’s advisors mirrored the dream of making the Armada the world’s fourth largest naval power again. The issue however hit the brick wall of Spanish shipyards capabilities, still setup for traditional shipbuilding, and lack of industrial basis for artillery and armor. Foreign shipyards were immediately thought for the first ship, and this industrial basis was worked for.

Numancia and tetuan and made in France, Vitoria was made in Britain, as Arapiles, but the Government wanted an Ironclad made in Spain. For this, between 1860 and 1862, the best naval yard at the time (Before El Ferrol) was largely seen as the Royal Arsenal of Cartagena, on the southerwestern coast (Mediterranean). The ancient city was founded by the Punic Empire and borrowed from the seafaring heritage of the Phoenicians, and always had been a major naval construction hub in Spain. In Cartagena there was already a large steam frigate in Construction. So to gain time it was simply decided to converte her.

Construction of Zaragosa (or Zaragoza) was originally authorised as a steam screw frigate of “Villa de Madrid” class, after which her keel was laid down on 15 June of the following year. On April 22, 1862, it was decided to convert the ship into an armored frigate, a broadside ironclad, so construction work was halted, and resumed on June 26, 1862, with the ship being launched on February 6, 1867, and work being completed on June 15, 1868. The conversion took still six years, despite the fact her hull was mostly done. Se she was commissioned far later than the first four foreign ordered Spanish ironclads. And this was done at the cost of of 7,096,460 pesetas, which was quite enormous for the time.

Hull and general design

Zaragoza was 85.4 meters (280 ft 2 in) long (waterline) with a short reinforced ram, for a beam of 16.6 meters (54 ft 6 in) and draft of 7.25 to 7.5 meters (24 ft 7 in). She displaced 5,650 metric tons (5,561 long tons) overall, making her lighter than previous 7000+ tons French and British ironclads. Her crew amounted to 548 officers and enlisted men. Some were assigned to the guns, others to the traditional three-masted barque rigging and others as stokers in the machinery spaces. As customary for the time, she had a well decorated poop galley and luxurious interiors reserved for the officers, with individual cabins. Lower rank petty officers and sailors shared hammocks between quarters.

Protection

Zaragosa had a wooden hull protected by a 120 mm or 5 inches wrought iron armour covering the hull from the upper deck to 1.20 m (3.2 feet) below the waterline. This armour plating represented the bulk of the ship’s weight. On both the aft and stern section beyond the battery, there was a thinner protective belt that was 102 mm or 4 inches thick, albeit other sources states both ends of the ship and the deck were unarmored and that the thinner belt was outside the central citadel. The battery deck above was protected by 4.5 inches or 114 mm plating. There was not armour deck, nor conning tower. But since the main armament comprised four 28 cm Hontoria guns placed amidships in a central battery, their barbettes were protected by 3.9 inches or 100 mm of armour. It’s likely the armour plates were provided by Britain.

Powerplant

Zaragoza was propelled by a British provided Penn trunk steam engine rated for 800 nominal horsepower (3200 hp indicated) based on the steam provided by 6 rectangular boilers, allowing her to reach a speed of between 11 and 12 knots. She could steam over 2775 nm (5,140 km) on steam alone. In addition, her full barque three mast rigging enabled an unlimited range and top speed of circa 6 knots.

Armament

Her original armament was planned to be fifty one 200 mm (8 inches) muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, with a total of 22 guns of different calibres mounted on delivery. However the design was changed a central battery/broadside ironclad as naval tech evolved at a giant pace since 1862. This explains also why construction dragged on for so long. There were many design revisions and calculation changes.

Four 280 mm (11 in) smoothbore guns

Placed in four barbettes at the battery upper level. Technically they were Arsmtring smoothbore 250 pounders. The caliber might recall the smoothbore Dahlgren gun used by USS monitor, pretty popular at the time. Hontoria guns were not yet a thing. But the latter designed indeed a 280 mm gun in 1883.

Three 220 mm (8.7 in) smoothbore guns

Two placed in hull casemates fore and aft, on poop chase gun on deck aft. They could be Parrott guns, also US provided.

Fourteen 68-pounder smoothbore gun

Seven per side, in gun ports, main battery below. These were British Low Moor Ironworks semi-wheeled guns with an iron body and wooden carriage, traditional muzzleloaders. They were likely retired in the 1870s.

Career of Zaragosa

Zaragoza was laid down by Arsenales de la Armada in Cartagena on 4 October 1861, launched until 6 February 1867 and completed in June 1868, commissioned in July.
She was assigned to Ferrol Port, and remained there until August 1868. She then joined the Cadiz fleet, and actively participated in the triumph of La Gloriosa, carrying General Prim, touring the ports of the Mediterranean coast and making arrangements tending to the triumph of the “glorious revolution”. She was part of the Mediterranean Squadron until the end of 1869 before being transferred to the Antilles Fleet (Spanish Caribbean or West Indies Squadron, Cuba).

She remained in Cuba until 1873, and then returned home to the peninsula, joining loyalist squadron of Admiral Lobo, trying to supress the rebels of the Canton of Cartagena, although she did not arrive in time to participate in the naval battle of Portmán. She saw thus action in the Third Carlist War of 1872–1876. but at the end of the cantonal revolt, she was assigned to the Training Squadron.
No records afterwards but in 1874-76 she had a first armament modernization, leaving with her four smoothbore Armstrong 250 pounder smoothbore guns, and ten Palliser 160 mm rifled guns (7 inches).
On deck she had 2 additional Palliser 18 cm rifled cannons in the citadel and another 6 bronze 12-cm and 8-cm guns. She returned to active service in 1876 as the monarchy was restored.

In 1880 she joined the Training Squadron under Rear Admiral Don José Polo de Bernabé y Mordella. She serbed in Galician waters in the summer of 1881 during the visit of King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Cristina. She was in manoeuvres with the squadron on 9 August and a naval parade for the King. The squadron returned to Ferrol later that month.
In 1882 she sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, visiting ports as far as Egypt and Suez and then stayed to defend Spanish interests an citizens there. She took part in a convoy with the frigate Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

She was to take part in the crisis of the Carolinas with Germany in the first months of 1886, but badly needed a drydocking and a change of boilers. Eventually she was left in Cartagena disarmed, awaiting her fate. Most sources stats she underwent a major overhaul in 1889 but it seems not to be the case.
In 1890 she still not had been overhauled. She still replaced the steam corvette Tornado (1869) at the Torpedo School, by Royal Order, albeit she was soon decommissioned due to her general state.
She was in active service until 1892. That year, albeit partially disarmed and relegated as a torpedo training ship at Cartagena, she was stricken in 1896, used in Cartagena as a pontoon and later as a depot ship until 1897, and then placed on sale. She was sold for scrapp in 1898, completed by 1899.

Read More/Src

Books

Conway’s all the world’s fighting ships 1860-1904

Links

web.archive.org/web ciere.org CUADERNOS
todoavante.es/ Zaragoza_(1867)
es.wikipedia.org Zaragoza_(1867)
en.wikipedia.org Spanish_ironclad_Zaragoza