The ''Audaz'' class was a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of nine

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s built for the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the 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 navigation, ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Construction was slow, with only four completed to the original design from 1953–1956. The remaining five ships completed as

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

escorts with a new armament and sensor fit from 1960 to 1965, while the original four ships were also modified to this standard. Built at

Ferrol Ferrol may refer to: Places * Ferrol (comarca), a coastal region in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain * Ferrol, Spain, industrial city and naval station in Galicia, Spain ** Racing de Ferrol, an association football club * Ferrol, Romblon, municipality in ...

, they completed in 1946–1950 and were rated as gunboats, and were redesignated as frigates in 1959. The last of the class, ''Intrepido'', was stricken in 1982.

Construction and design

In 1945, the

Spanish State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

began work on a class of nine small

s or

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

s, based on the French design. Seven ''Le Fier''-class ships were

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

in 1939–1940 before the French surrender in 1940 stopped construction. Germany restarted construction of six of the ships, with different armament, but none were completed. The Spanish ships used the same armament layout as intended by the Germans. The ships were long

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. They had a unit machinery layout, with boiler and engine rooms alternating. Three La Siene 3-drum

boilers A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

generated steam at and which was fed to Rateau-Bretagne geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, rated at giving a speed of . 290 tons of oil were carried, giving a range of at a speed of and at 33 knots. As originally designed, they were armed with three

dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...

s, all mounted aft, with four

anti-aircraft guns Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

(one of which was mounted forward of the ship's

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

) and eight anti-aircraft guns. Six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in two triple mounts were fitted. The ships had a complement of 145 men. From 1959, the availability of US military aid resulted in the five ships that were still being built to be completed to a revised design as

escorts, with a completely new armament and sensor outfit, while the four ships which had been delivered were refitted to the new standard. Anti-aircraft armament consisted of two US Mark 34 guns mounted aft and two Bofors L/70 guns, with one forward of the bridge and one aft of the ship's

funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...

. Two

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

anti-submarine

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

were fitted, together with eight

depth-charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

throwers and two depth charge racks, and two launchers for Mark 32 anti-submarine torpedoes. The modified ships were fitted with MLA-1B air-search

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

, SPS-5B surface search radar and SPG-34 fire control radar, with QHBa

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

. Displacement increased to standard and full load while speed dropped to The revised ship's complement was recorded as 191 in 1971 and 199 in 1979.

Service

Although all nine ships were laid down at the

Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval From 1909 until the Spanish Civil War, naval construction in Spain was monopolized by the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval – (SECN) also Spanish Society for Naval Construction (SECN). During this time the majority of its shares were owne ...

(SECN) shipyard at

dockyard in 1945, financial problems slowed construction, and the first ship, , was not completed until 1953. Three more were completed by 1956, with the remaining five ships completing to the revised arrangement from 1960 to 1965, while the original four ships were modernised by the end of 1963. One ship, , was wrecked in 1966 when it ran aground, while the remaining ships started to be discarded in 1972, with the last ship, , stricken in 1982.

Ships

At first, the ships of the class were designated as conventional destroyers, but they were redesignated as fast frigates in 1955, as anti-submarine frigates in 1956 and as anti-submarine destroyers in 1961.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * {{Audaz-class destroyer (1945) Destroyers of the Spanish Navy Destroyer classes Audaz-class destroyers