The ''Princesa de Asturias'' class was a class of

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast e ...

s of the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigat ...

during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The class comprised three ships, , and . With construction beginning on the lead ship of the class in 1890, it was considered to be essentially a repeat of the three s but with more modern and balanced armament. ''Cardenal Cisneros'' was wrecked in 1905 but the fate of the other two ships of the ''Princesa de Asturias'' class is unknown.

Design

Dimensions and machinery

Infanta Maria Teresa class diagrams Brasseys 1896

The ships of the class were long, had a beam of , a draught of , and had a displacement of 6,888 ton. The ships were equipped with two-shaft

reciprocating engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common fea ...

s, which were rated at and produced a top speed of .

Armour

The ships had belt armour of , conning tower and barbette armour of , turret armour and deck armour. However, as these ships were fundamentally modernized ''Infanta Maria Teresa-''class cruisers, the armour coverage was not comprehensive, and thus the ships were poorly armoured by standards of the day.

Armament

The main armament of the ships were two single turret guns. Secondary armament included eight single guns.

Ships

* was ordered September 1889 and laid down at the

La Carraca shipyard Arsenal de la Carraca, also Naval Station of La Carraca, is a naval shipyard and a naval base in San Fernando, Spain. It is a naval base for the construction and repair of ships, and the storage and distribution of arms and ammunition. The first ...

in San Fernando, Cadiz in 1890. She was launched on 17 October 1896, after an unsuccessful launch attempt on 9 October, and commissioned in 1902.Chesneau and Kolesnik (1979), p. 382 She was discarded in 1927. * was laid down at Cartagena Navy Yard in 1890 and launched on 24 September 1900. She was commissioned in 1903. ''Cataluña'' was discarded in 1929. * was laid down at the Ferrol Dockyard in 1890. She was launched on 19 March 1897 and commissioned in 1902. She was lost when she ran aground on 28 October 1905.Fitzsimmons (1977), p. 524

Notes

Sources

* Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905.'' New York, New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979. . *

External links

Description of class
{{Princesa de Asturias class armoured cruiser Cruisers of the Spanish Navy Cruiser classes