Spanish destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz (1928)

For other ships with the same name, see Spanish destroyer Almirante Ferrandiz.

Almirante Ferrándiz was a Churruca-class destroyer in the Spanish Republican Navy. She took part in the Spanish Civil War on the government side.

Spanish destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz
History
Spain
Name	Almirante Ferrandiz
Namesake	José Ferrándiz y Niño
Builder	SECN, Naval Dockyard, Cartagena, Spain
Launched	21 May 1928
Completed	1929
Commissioned	1929
Decommissioned	1936
Fate	Sunk by the Spanish Nationalist cruiser Canarias, 1936
General characteristics
Class & type	Churruca-class destroyer
Displacement	1,650 tons (normal); 2,067 tons (maximum)
Length	101 m (331 ft 4 in)
Beam	9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draught	3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Installed power	4 Yarrow boilers 42,000 hp (31,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 Parsons turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h)
Range	5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) 3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement	160
Armament	5 × 120 mm (4.7 in) L45 (5x1) 1 × 76 mm (3 in) anti-aircraft gun 4 × machineguns 6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (2x3) 2 × depth charge racks

She was named in honor of José Ferrándiz y Niño, a Spanish Admiral and former Navy Minister.

History

Almirante Ferrándiz took part in the Gibraltar Strait blockade. When a Republican squadron penetrated the Cantabrian Sea to relieve Republican troops isolated in the north, she remained in the strait with Gravina to stop any movement of Nationalist troops between Africa and the Iberian peninsula.

In response, the Nationalist heavy cruiser Canarias (which Republicans believed had been damaged by an aerial bomb) and the light cruiser Almirante Cervera were sent to break the blockade.

On 29 September 1936, at the Battle of Cape Spartel, Canarias spotted Almirante Ferrándiz on patrol in the Alboran Sea, and opened fire from 16 kilometres (8.6 nmi), hitting the destroyer with her second salvo. The Republican destroyer continued sailing away from Canarias, but the heavy cruiser struck her again with a third salvo, at 20 km (11 nmi). The destroyer took a total of six hits from Canarias's 200 mm (8 in) main armament and sank 33 km (18 nmi) off Calaburras with most of her crew. Canarias stopped to rescue 31 sailors from Almirante Ferrándiz and authorized the French liner Koutubia to pick up another 26, including her commander, José Luis Barbastro Jiménez.^[1]