Spanish Battleship Pelayo (1885)
Pelayo was built by Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seyne for Spain. She was named for the Catholic King of Asturias who won the first signal victory over the Moors at Covadonga in 718 and is credited with beginning the Reconquista of Moorish-ruled lands in Spain. Click here for awesome enlarged view of the ship. Launched at Toulon in 1883, and modeled closely on the French Marceau class, Pelayo was a second-class battleship intended for a fading naval power forced into tightfisted budgeting. The ship's gunnery layout followed the lozenge or diamond pattern then prevalent in the French navy. She mounted two 12.6"/38 cal. guns in single barbettes bow and stern, and two Model 1893 10.8"/40 cal. guns perched on the beam ends, again in single barbettes. Pelayo also shows off the characteristic French battleship hull shape with its voluptuous tumble-home, studded with square scuttles, and the huge sculptural masts. Pelayo conveyed something of the quirky gravitas of the much larger Masséna; the huge size of the guns was exaggerated by their in-your-face placement, emphasized at this camera angle. Pelayo's superstructure had a unique layout. In place of the Marceaus' massive central funnel, she had two stacks with the bridge running across between them. Between the bridge and foremast, around the No. 1 funnel, was the boat boom area, and there was enclosed superstructure below and aft of the bridge.
Pelayo at Genoa, probably for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1892. The ornate admiral's walk is not well seen here.
Pelayo at Genoa, probably for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1892. The ornate admiral's walk is not well seen here.
Tall out of the water, with her upper-works swept up toward the bow and her forward gun literally perched at the prow, this ship had an imposing if not entirely formidable silhouette. Despite her generous waterline belt of 451mm of nickel-steel armor (almost 18 inches) and thick barbette and turret protection, Pelayo presented a large target on broadside, with looming cliffs of completely unprotected upper-works -- precisely the type of firetrap that doomed the Russian battleships at Tsushima: even intact barbettes became untenable when surrounded by intense fire, and when the air within became a toxic broil of combustion gases. Happily she was not destined for combat.
Though she was copied from the French Marceau class, she happily completed with lighter and better-balanced proportions than that lumpy prototype. Although mounting heavy artillery, Pelayo was a bit small and a bit slow even by the standards of second-class battleships. Nevertheless, Pelayo was the only modern battleship in the Spanish fleet and did most of her firing returning salutes. Our pictures of her show her in port as the flagship, surrounded by small craft and ceremony. In this capacity she spent most of the 1898 war with the U.S., as an administrative center for the Spanish navy as a whole at Cádiz. As war erupted, she was despatched with a powerful squadron to protect Manila; but when news soon came of Manila's fall on May 1, the squadron was hastily recalled from Suez and spent the rest of the brief conflict in home waters. It was another fiasco in the long series that characterized Spain's feeble war effort, designed more to save face in an inevitable defeat than to exert any effort toward victory.
With her navy swept from the seas and her colonies cherry-picked by the victorious USA, Spain became a moribund naval power after 1898. Pelayo hung on as an appropriately bizarre relic during Spain's decades of decline. Spain did not build another battleship until 1909, when 3 compact dreadnoughts were laid down at El Ferrol, with extensive British technical assistance. Pelayo lingered on until 1925, 6 years before the monarchy was overthrown. Thus the old ship was spared the humiliation of witnessing Spain's descent into revolution, bloody civil war, and foreign intervention.
Though she was copied from the French Marceau class, she happily completed with lighter and better-balanced proportions than that lumpy prototype. Although mounting heavy artillery, Pelayo was a bit small and a bit slow even by the standards of second-class battleships. Nevertheless, Pelayo was the only modern battleship in the Spanish fleet and did most of her firing returning salutes. Our pictures of her show her in port as the flagship, surrounded by small craft and ceremony. In this capacity she spent most of the 1898 war with the U.S., as an administrative center for the Spanish navy as a whole at Cádiz. As war erupted, she was despatched with a powerful squadron to protect Manila; but when news soon came of Manila's fall on May 1, the squadron was hastily recalled from Suez and spent the rest of the brief conflict in home waters. It was another fiasco in the long series that characterized Spain's feeble war effort, designed more to save face in an inevitable defeat than to exert any effort toward victory.
With her navy swept from the seas and her colonies cherry-picked by the victorious USA, Spain became a moribund naval power after 1898. Pelayo hung on as an appropriately bizarre relic during Spain's decades of decline. Spain did not build another battleship until 1909, when 3 compact dreadnoughts were laid down at El Ferrol, with extensive British technical assistance. Pelayo lingered on until 1925, 6 years before the monarchy was overthrown. Thus the old ship was spared the humiliation of witnessing Spain's descent into revolution, bloody civil war, and foreign intervention.
A Pelayo Picture Book
Profile of the Pelayo.
Specifications for the Pelayo:
Dimensions: 364'2" x 65'1½" x 24'10" Displacement: 9,745 tons. Armament: (2) 12.6"/35 cal. Canet BLR (32 cm), (2) 10.8"/35 M1883 Canet BLR (27 cm), (12) 4.7"/40, and (5) 57mm/40 6-pdr Hotchkiss QF guns; (7) 15" torpedo tubes. Creusot process nickel-steel armor: 17¾" belt and barbettes; 6.1" conn and secondary battery; 2¾" deck. Fuel capacity: 670 tons of coal. Propulsion: 10 coal-fired Niclausse boilers; (2) inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 9,600 HP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 16.7 knots. Crew: 520.
Specifications for the Pelayo:
Dimensions: 364'2" x 65'1½" x 24'10" Displacement: 9,745 tons. Armament: (2) 12.6"/35 cal. Canet BLR (32 cm), (2) 10.8"/35 M1883 Canet BLR (27 cm), (12) 4.7"/40, and (5) 57mm/40 6-pdr Hotchkiss QF guns; (7) 15" torpedo tubes. Creusot process nickel-steel armor: 17¾" belt and barbettes; 6.1" conn and secondary battery; 2¾" deck. Fuel capacity: 670 tons of coal. Propulsion: 10 coal-fired Niclausse boilers; (2) inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 9,600 HP, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 16.7 knots. Crew: 520.
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 102m x 20.2m x 7.58m Displacement: 9,745 tons. Armament: (2) 32 cm/35 cal. Canet BLR (2x1), (2) 27-cm/35 M1883 Canet BLR (2x1), (12) 12-cm/40 (2x1), and (5) 57 mm/40 6-pdr Hotchkiss QF guns; (7) 38-cm torpedo tubes. Creusot process nickel-steel armor: 451 mm belt and barbettes; 155 mm conn and secondary battery; 69.85 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 670 tons of coal. Propulsion: 10 coal-fired Niclausse boilers; (2) inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 7,159 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 31 km/hr. Crew: 520.
Metric specifications:
Dimensions: 102m x 20.2m x 7.58m Displacement: 9,745 tons. Armament: (2) 32 cm/35 cal. Canet BLR (2x1), (2) 27-cm/35 M1883 Canet BLR (2x1), (12) 12-cm/40 (2x1), and (5) 57 mm/40 6-pdr Hotchkiss QF guns; (7) 38-cm torpedo tubes. Creusot process nickel-steel armor: 451 mm belt and barbettes; 155 mm conn and secondary battery; 69.85 mm deck. Fuel capacity: 670 tons of coal. Propulsion: 10 coal-fired Niclausse boilers; (2) inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines developing 7,159 kW, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 31 km/hr. Crew: 520.
Pelayo's aft 320mm (12.6") gun shown in a period wood-engraving. The beginning of the modern turret/gunhouse is right here in the modest overhead shield over the top of this barbette. Motto on the barbette tube reads "Honor y Patria": Honor and Country.
Pelayo's aft 320mm (12.6") gun shown in a period wood-engraving. The beginning of the modern turret/gunhouse is right here in the modest overhead shield over the top of this barbette. Motto on the barbette tube reads "Honor y Patria": Honor and Country.
Pelayo docked for maintenance, with a mustache of scaffolding draped about the bows. This shot gives a great sense of the scale of the vessel.
Pelayo docked for maintenance, with a mustache of scaffolding draped about the bows. This shot gives a great sense of the scale of the vessel.
Pelayo underway in the Med. The angling of the net booms models the ship's bulging belly, contours approved by the best French naval architects of the Belle Époque. The "fat hips" provided a platform for the beam guns, giving them a clear arc of fire all round the ship on either side; their sponsoned mounts show up under the No. 2 funnel from this angle.
Pelayo underway in the Med. The angling of the net booms models the ship's bulging belly, contours approved by the best French naval architects of the Belle Époque. The "fat hips" provided a platform for the beam guns, giving them a clear arc of fire all round the ship on either side; their sponsoned mounts show up under the No. 2 funnel from this angle.
Jim Baumann's model is a tribute to Pelayo's elaborate boat handling system. This model even vents clouds of steam from the hull, apparently -- a mark of total authenticity.
Jim Baumann's model is a tribute to Pelayo's elaborate boat handling system. This model even vents clouds of steam from the hull, apparently -- a mark of total authenticity.
