''Gravina'' was a

unprotected cruiser An unprotected cruiser was a type of naval warship in use during the early 1870s Victorian or pre-dreadnought era (about 1880 to 1905). The name was meant to distinguish these ships from “protected cruisers”, which had become accepted in ...

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, ...

Technical characteristics

''Gravina'' was built by the Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. at

Leamouth Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former ''Leamouth Wharf'' and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the United Kingdom. Her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid in 1881. She had one rather tall funnel. She had an iron hull and was rigged as a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

. She and the lead ship of the class, , also built in the United Kingdom, were differently armed and slightly faster than the final six ships of the class, all of which were built in Spain.

Operational history

Not long after her completion, ''Gravina'' was based in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. She had a short life, sinking in a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

on 10 July 1884 with the loss of two officers and seven crew.

References

*Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905.'' New York, New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979. . * Nofi, Albert A. ''The Spanish–American War, 1898''. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania:Combined Books, Inc., 1996. .

External links

The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: ''Don Antonio de Ulloa''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravina Velasco-class cruisers Ships built in Leamouth Maritime incidents in July 1884 Shipwrecks in the South China Sea 1881 ships