The Cartagena Naval Base, also known as Arsenal of Cartagena, is a

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

and

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

of 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, ...

located in the city of Cartagena. It is one of the oldest naval bases in Spain, having been created in the 18th century. Located in the southeast of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, it is the main Spanish base in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

History

The

port of Cartagena The port of Cartagena ( es, Puerto de Cartagena) is the port located in Cartagena, Spain. It is the fourth nationwide port in freight traffic behind Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona. It occupies the eighth place in relation to the number of crui ...

, first founded by the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

in the 2nd century BC, occupies a strategic location on the

. It remained a commercial port until the reign of

Philip V Philip V may refer to: * Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC) * Philip V of France (1293–1322) * Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598) * Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...

, when it was redeveloped as a major naval base alongside the expansion of the Spanish Navy. Construction of the arsenal began in late 1731, and was completed in 1782, during the reign of

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. The final cost came to 112 million reales. The Cartagena naval base was a major industrial complex by the 18th century, with

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

and workshops, carrying out

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are ...

and blacksmithing, as well as crafts and fine arts workshops to produce ship ornamentation and decoration. In the second half of the 18th century, 21 ships, 17

frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

and more than fifty

brigs A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

xebecs A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...

, hulks,

galleys A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

, etc. were built there, as well as a large number of smaller vessels. The Arsenal employed several thousand people in the construction and the maintenance of the units of the Spanish Navy. The Naval Base was enlarged during the reign of Isabel II in 1849. In 1889,

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

was introduced into the arsenal. In 1918, the

moats A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

of the

dry docks A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

built by Feringán were developed as

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

docks, in which role they still serve.

Ships

* ''Galerna''-class submarines ** ''Galerna'' ** ''Mistral'' ** ''Tramontana'' Formentor P-82

* ''Segura''-class minehunters ** ''Segura'' ** ''Sella'' ** ''Tambre'' ** ''Turia'' ** ''Duero'' ** ''Tajo'' Infanta Elena (P-76) 080416-N-9855D-116

* Transport ships **''Martín Posadillo'' (owned by the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

but operated by the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

) ** ''El Camino Español'' (owned by the

but operated by the

) * Polar research ships ** BIO ''Hespérides'' ** ''Las Palmas'' * EW support ship ** ''Alerta'' * ''Chilreu''-class patrol vessels ** ''Alborán'' ** ''Tarifa'' * ''Descubierta''-class corvettes Naval vessel in Cartagena in Spain 2016 - Holmstad

Naval vessel in Cartagena in Spain 2016 - Holmstad

** ''Infanta Elena'' ** ''Infanta Cristina'' * ''Toralla''-class patrol vessels ** ''Toralla'' ** ''Formentor'' * Submarine rescue ships ** ''Neptuno'' *

Meteoro-class offshore patrol vessel The ''Meteoro-class'' offshore patrol vessel, also known as Buque de Acción Marítima (BAM), are new modular offshore patrol vessels of the Spanish Navy adapted to different purposes from a common base, manufactured by Navantia. The BAMs combine h ...

** ''Audaz'' ** ''Furor'' Ships
/ref>

References

{{Coord, 37.6012, -0.9926, type:landmark_region:ES_dim:2000, display=title Military installations of Spain Spanish Navy bases Cartagena, Spain

History

Ships

See also

References