Fernando Villaamil

Fernando Villaamil Fernández-Cueto (November 23, 1845 – July 3, 1898) was a Spanish Navy officer best known being the inventor of the destroyer and for his death in action during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War. He was the highest ranking Spanish officer to die in the conflict.

The origins

Fernando Villaamil was born in Serantes, near Castropol (Asturias), in the north of Spain, less than a mile from the Cantabrian Sea coastline. He descended from a family of respected noblemen and landowners, but his father found himself almost completely ruined, and had to sell all his property, including the family ancestral home. It seems that this event produced a strong mixed feeling of both affection and anger about his native region in Fernando, which would last for the rest of his life.

In 1861 he entered the Spanish Navy ''Colegio Naval de San Fernando'', and one year later he went, as midshipman, aboard the frigate ''Esperanza'', the first of the long series of warships on which he would serve his nation until the final ''Furor''.

He then served in the Philippines and Cuba, the last remains of the Spanish Empire, and in 1873 he was back in Spain and was nominated as a teacher in the Naval School that the Spanish Navy held aboard a frigate anchored in the naval base of Ferrol. Along the following years Villaamil took advantage of the studying and writing opportunities presented by his new job, becoming one of the best known and respected Spanish Navy officers.

The ''Destructor''

In 1884, Villaamil was appointed Second Officer in the Ministry of the Navy. As such, he took the initiative of studying and designing a new class of warship intended to fight the then-new torpedo boats.

Once he reached his conclusions on the subject, he obtained the agreement of the Minister of the Navy, Manuel Pezuela, and selected the British shipyards of James & George Thompson, in Clydebank to build the new vessel, beginning in late 1885.

Villaamil was assigned to Great Britain to supervise the works and study the operating procedures of the British naval dockyards, as well as the new Engineers corps. On January 19, 1887, the '' Destructor'', the first torpedo boat destroyer,Smith, Charles Edgar: ''A short history of naval and marine engineering.'' Babcock & Wilcox, ltd. at the University Press, 1937, page 263 was formally handed over to the Spanish Navy, with great expectations from the European naval community.

On the 24 the ship, which had reached in the trials, weighed anchor in Falmouth, bounded for Vigo, with Villaamil in command. Twenty-four hours later, she reached the Spanish coast, making through a stormy Bay of Biscay."The American Navy Greyhound"
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In one day the doubts about the ship's seaworthiness were answered forever, and her designer and commander had every reason to feel proud. As a consequence of the success of the ''Destructor'', Villaamil's professional reputation grew, both in Spain and abroad.

Around the world aboard the ''Nautilus''

Villaamil was a strong advocate of oceanic sailing as the best training for the young Navy officers and in 1892, being appointed commander of the corvette ''Nautilus'' he took advantage of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of America's discovery to get approval for an instruction cruise around the world, rounding the three Great Capes.

On November 30, 1892
the ''Nautilus'' left Ferrol, in the northwest end of Spain. She rounded Cape Agulhas and Cape Leeuwin, passed through Bass and Cook straits, rounded Cape Horn, went to New York City and eventually, after sailing forty thousand miles, came back to Spain on a shining Sunday, July 16, 1894, in San Sebastián.

Here the sailors suddenly realized that an approaching launch hoisted the royal pennant. It was the Regent Queen and her son, the child King Alfonso XIII, coming to welcome Villaamil and all the ''Nautilus'' crew.

The Spanish–American War

During the following years, Villaamil and some other forward-thinking colleagues tried to make the Spanish public aware of the critical deficiencies of the Navy.

Then, events rushed ahead: tension with the United States was rising quickly, and on February 16, 1898—the day following the explosion of the USS ''Maine'' in Havana

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