Almirante Cervera Class Cruiser

Almirante Cervera Class Cruiser

The Cervera or Alfonso class were three light cruisers built for the Spanish Navy in the 1920s. The ships were built by Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval in Ferrol which had strong British links and were designed by Sir Philip Watts. The design was based on the British Emerald class cruiser, but had all boilers grouped together reducing the number of funnels to two. The main armament comprised Vickers pattern 6 inch guns with single mountings in A and Y positions and Twin turrets in B,Q and X positions. The programme was initially authorised in 1915 but was delayed by World War I with construction of the first ship starting in 1917.

The Galicia and Cervantes had substantial refits in the 1940s. The 6 inch turret in Q position was replaced by a catapult for a seaplane and the single 6 inch mountings were replaced by twins to retain an 8 gun broadside. Extra AA guns were fitted in all three ships.