''Canarias'' was a Canarias-class

heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...

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, ...

. She was built in Spain by the

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

subsidiary

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 ...

based on a British design, being a modified version of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

′s County class. ''Canarias'' saw service during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

History

''Canarias'' was the flagship of the Nationalist Navy and sank 34 ships, including the

Spanish Republican Navy The Spanish Republican Navy was the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. History In the same manner as the other two branches of the Spanish Republi ...

destroyer during the

Battle of Cape Espartel The Battle of Cape Spartel (''Cabo Espartel'' in Spanish) was a naval battle of the Spanish Civil War that broke the Republican blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, securing the maritime supply route to Spanish Morocco for the Nationalists ...

, and the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

merchant ''Komsomol'' off

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

, both in the second half of 1936. ''Canarias'' was the main player of the

Battle of Cape Machichaco The battle of Cape Machichaco was a naval battle which took place on 5 March 1937 off Bermeo, during the Spanish Civil War, between the Spanish Nationalist heavy cruiser and four Basque Navy trawlers escorting a Republican convoy. The trawler ...

on 5 March 1937, when the

Basque Auxiliary Navy The Basque Auxiliary Navy ( es, Marina de Guerra Auxiliar de Euzkadi, eu, Eusko Itsas Gudarostea) was a section of the Spanish Republican Navy operating in the Bay of Biscay between 1936 and 1937. It began operations in October 1936 at the behes ...

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to ...

''Nabarra'' was destroyed. She also damaged the destroyer , forcing her to seek refuge at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

on 29 August 1938. ''Canarias'' captured the Republican liner ''Mar Cantábrico'', which was later converted to an

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in ...

. During World War II she took part in the search for survivors from the in May 1941. Canarias C21 2

The cruiser remained in commission (due to several repair and refit periods) as the fleet flagship throughout her career. A major refit was planned for ''Canarias'' around 1973 to further extend the vessel's life, but a survey of her condition (conducted with help of US Navy personnel) concluded she was too old and obsolete to warrant the work. Some effort was made to turn her into a museum ship, but very little funds were raised for the plan. She was decommissioned in 1975 and then sold for scrap in 1977, but was able to steam under her own power to the scrapyard.

Notes

References

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External links

''Canarias, Adiós''
by Willard C. Frank, Jr. (1975)
Crucero Canarias (C-21). Última singladura. 1974 (Decommissioning ceremony of Spanish cruiser Canarias)
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Canarias Canarias-class cruisers Ships built in Spain 1931 ships Military units and formations of the Spanish Civil War Maritime incidents in 1936