Technical Characteristics
Reina Cristina was built at the naval shipyard at Ferrol and launched 2 May 1887. She had two funnels. Her main armament was built by Hontoria and sponson-mounted. Her five torpedo tubes were all fixed; two were forward, one was on each beam, and one was aft. Although unprotected and therefore lacking armor, she had 12 watertight compartments built in a French-style cellular system to help her resist flooding. She was designed for colonial service, combining high speed with a moderate level of armament; due to chronic boiler problems, however, her designed top speed proved unattainable, and in practice her top speed was about 10 knots. Her design made her unsuited to combat with the types of heavily armed and armored ships she was destined to meet in Manila Bay in 1898.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Cruiser Reina Cristina
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