Infanta María Teresa (1890)

Type

Armored Cruiser

Period

19th Century

Nation

Spain

Overview: Infanta María Teresa was the lead ship of her three-vessel class of Spanish armored cruisers, built at the Sociedad Astilleros del Nervión shipyard at Sestao/Bilbao and launched in 1890. She served as flagship of Vice Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete's squadron during the Spanish-American War and was destroyed at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in 1898, making her one of the most famous casualties of that conflict. Specifications: The ship displaced 6,890 tons, measured 364 ft (111 m) in length with a 65 ft 2 in beam, and could reach 20.2 knots under forced draft. Her main armament was two 11-inch (280mm) Hontoria guns in centerline barbettes fore and aft, backed by ten 5.5-inch (140mm) guns, numerous smaller quick-firing weapons, and eight torpedo tubes. Despite her firepower and speed, her protection was notably weak: the armor belt covered only about two-thirds of the hull, the secondary guns sat exposed on the upper deck, and she carried a high, unarmored freeboard. Service History: Laid down in 1889 and launched on 30 August 1890 in a ceremony presided over by the Queen Regent, she was completed in 1893 and spent her early career in European and American waters, including a visit to New York shortly before the USS Maine disaster in February 1898. As Cervera's flagship she led the Spanish squadron out of Santiago harbor on 3 July 1898, where she was heavily engaged, set ablaze by her own excessive wood furnishings and decking, and run aground and burned. The US Navy later refloated the wreck, but it was lost under tow off Cat Island in the Bahamas on 1 November 1898. Notable Facts: Like her sister ships Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo (also sunk the same day at Santiago), Infanta María Teresa's design was inspired by the British Orlando-class cruisers. A design and wartime quirk that modelers often note is that, contrary to sound military practice, her ornate wooden interior fittings and unprotected upper deck were never stripped before battle, and this timber fueled the fires that ultimately doomed her.