Príncipe Alfonso was a Spanish Navy light cruiser commissioned in 1927. She was the lead ship of the . After initial service under the Kingdom of Spain, she came under the control of the Second Spanish Republic when it was proclaimed in 1931 and was renamed Libertad, subsequently serving in the Spanish Republican Navy and seeing combat in the Revolution of 1934. During the Spanish Civil War she fought on the Republican side and was the flagship of the Spanish Republican Navy. She was very active during the conflict, participating in both the Battle of Cape Cherchell in 1937 and the Battle of Cape Palos in 1938. After the Nationalist victory in the war, she came under the control of Francoist Spain and was renamed Galicia in 1939. She subsequently supported Spanish operations in the Ifni War of 1957–1958. She was decommissioned in either 1964 or 1970 and was scrapped in 1970.
As Principe Alfonso, the ship was named for Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907–1938), the heir apparent to the Spanish throne. As Libertad, she was named for the concept of liberty. As Galicia, she was named for Galicia, a region of Spain.
Construction and commissioning Spain's naval law of 1915 expired in December 1921 without all of its funds having been spent. To continue the construction of ships for the Spanish Navy, the minister of the navy promoted a new law on 11 January 1922. Under it, a royal decree of 11 July 1922 authorized the construction of the light cruisers Príncipe Alfonso and . The keels of both ships were laid on 24 November 1922 at the shipyard of the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (SECN, the Spanish Naval Construction Society) in Ferrol, Spain, and both ships were launched on 23 January 1925.Hemeroteca ABC: Botadura del crucero Príncipe Alfonso Príncipe Alfonso began her sea trials in September 1927,hemeroteca ABC: pruebas del nuevo crucero Príncipe AlfonsoHemeroteca ABC:Pruebas de artillería del crucero Príncipe Alfonso after which she was commissioned into the Spanish Navy on 20 September 1927.
Design and characteristics SECN was founded in 1908, with a majority of its shares owned by the British firms John Brown and "SPANISH NAVY: Huge Contract in British Hands" (1909) The Manchester Guardian, 1 February 1909, Page 12: Manchester "... Vickers, Armstrong and Brown... it has been determined to put down a new shipyard at Ferrol in Spain... Mr A J Campbell... has been appointed manager of the Ferrol yard... Mr Peter Muir ... has been appointed assistant manager. A considerable number of expert shipbuilders have sign on to go to Spain... there is a reason to believe that employment will be found to some hundreds of British shipbuilders, engineers, electricians, and other tradesmen in the new Spanish yard for several years to come.""SPANISH NAVY: Huge Contract in British Hands" Manchester Guardian, 1 February 1909, Page 12 and its technical staff was entirely British until 1925. Unsurprisingly, this led to a heavy British influence on the design of Spanish Navy ships built at SECN, particularly in SECN's Ferrol shipyard, with most Spanish ship designs derived from ships built for the Royal Navy. British influences were evident in the design of the two Almirante Cervera-class light cruisers, which were based on the Royal Navy's . Following a design by the British naval architect Sir Philip Watts, the technical director of Armstrong, the ships were very similar in dimensions to the Emerald class, but differed internally and externally in numerous details.
Príncipe Alfonso had a standard displacement of 7,975 tons, and at full load she displaced 9,330 tons. She was long and had a beam of a depth of and a draft of Her complement consisted of 566 men.
Príncipe Alfonso′s propulsion system consisted of eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers and four Parsons turbine sets generating and driving four screws. She could reach a speed of and had a range of at . Her belt armor varied in thickness from and her deck armor was thick.
Príncipe Alfonso′s main battery consisted of eight Vickers guns in five mounts, with a single mount forward, three twin mounts amidships, and a single mount aft. Her armament also included four anti-aircraft guns located between her second funnel and her aft mast, with two on each side, as well as two anti-aircraft mounts, one machine gun, and twelve torpedo tubes in four triple mounts. She also carried a gun for use in her boats during amphibious landings.
Service history Kingdom of Spain On 12 October 1927 got underway from Ferrol bound for Barcelona, where King boarded her for a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. Departing Barcelona on 1 November 1927, she visited Naples in Italy, where the king attended the wedding of to Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta and , on 5 November. Departing Naples, called at Malta, Bizerte in Tunisia, Cagliari on Sardinia, Mahón on Menorca in the Balearic Islands, Cartagena, and Alicante, where the king disembarked on 13 November 1927.
By January 1928, had returned to Ferrol. At the beginning of June 1928, she departed Ferrol to conduct exercises off Marín. She returned to Ferrol after completing the exercises, then proceeded to Gijón, where she received her battle flag, embroidered by the ladies of Asturias, in a ceremony that took place in El Musel on 12 July 1928. In the summer of 1928, with aboard, she was present with other ships in Santander Bay for the reception and courtesy visit of the under Admiral Docteur. On 28 August 1928, departed Ferrol for gunnery exercises at Marín, then on 5 September 1928 got underway from Marín and proceeded to Bilbao.
boarded at Bilbao in September 1928 to make an official visit to Sweden. departed Bilbao on 10 September 1928 and stopped first in Germany to visit the Reichsmarine at Kiel, where Alfonso XIII met with the head of the German naval command, Vizeadmiral the commander of the Kiel naval base, Vizeadmiral ; the acting commander of the German fleet command, Konteradmiral , and the chief of the German intelligence service, Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Wilhelm CanarisHemeroteca ABC:Viaje del rey de España a Suecia The king also visited the battleship . then called at Stockholm, which she reached on 13 September, and Gothenburg. On 19 September she departed Sweden for a visit to Skagen in Denmark. She then called at ports in Scotland and at Plymouth before returning to Spain at Ferrol, which she reached on 28 or 30 September, according to different sources. After refueling, she got back underway the next day, stopped at Almería, and then put to sea again on 4 October 1928 bound for Cartagena.
again boarded in October 1928 to observe Spanish Navy maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea. On 27 October , (which served as flagship), the battleships and , the light cruiser the destroyers , , and , the seaplane carrier , and other ships anchored at on Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. After conducting maneuvers, the ships of the squadron returned to at various times on the afternoon of 4 November and the morning of 5 November 1928. arrived on 6 November with the king on board. On the morning of 13 November 1928, arrived at Cartagena, where the king disembarked. After refueling at Algeciras, , , , , and the light cruiser arrived at Ferrol at the end of November 1928.
The ships departed Ferrol in January 1929, refueled at Almería on 13 January, and then conducted a cruise in the Mediterranean. They called at Valencia from then proceeded to Cartagena. On the morning of 13 March 1929, , , and put to sea from Vigo to conduct maneuvers on the open ocean. The three cruisers called at Cádiz from , then steamed north for gunnery practice at the end of April 1929. In mid-May 1929, (serving as squadron flagship), , Alsedo, Lazaga, and Velasco attended the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition at Barcelona, where their crews took part in ceremonies, banquets, parades, and visits. The Spanish squadron left Barcelona on 1 June 1929. The two battleships and the three light cruisers arrived at Alcúdia on Mallorca in the Balearic Islands on 17 June and later visited The ships stopped at Valencia in early July 1929, where they rendezvoused with . Both battleships and all four cruisers reached Ferrol on 9 July 1929.
After refueling, the four cruisers departed Ferrol on 13 July 1929 bound for Santander. and Prince Juan, Count of Barcelona, boarded there on 20 August 1929, and subsequently observed naval maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay off Santander involving the four cruisers as well as destroyers, submarines, torpedo boats, and other, smaller vessels, with serving as squadron flagship.Hemeroteca ABC: Santander: Maniobras navales In the autumn of 1929, took part in maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea as part of a squadron that also included , , and four destroyers. After their conclusion, presided over a naval review involving the squadron on 15 October. The squadron returned to Ferrol on 25 October 1929.
conducted maneuvers with , , , Alsedo, Lazaga, Velasco, and the destroyers and in the Pontevedra estuary during the first half of June 1930, after which the ships put into port at Ferrol. In July 1930, , , , the light cruisers and destroyers, and submarines carried out exercises in the Bay of Biscay between Cape Ortegal and the coast of France. The ships repeated the maneuvers and exercises in September 1930, culminating in a parade before on 20 September.
's commanding officer died in a hospital on 22 September 1930. After a new commanding officer reported aboard, the Spanish crown prince, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, embarked aboard , and she departed Ferrol with the rest of the squadron on 25 September 1930. On 26 September, the squadron arrived at San Fernando, where Prince Alfonso swore allegiance to the flag of Spain at the Naval Military Academy. then separated from the squadron to conduct a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea that took her to Algeciras, Málaga, Almería, Cartagena, Valencia, and Barcelona, where Prince Alfonso disembarked. then proceeded to Cartagena, which she reached on 30 September 1930. She rejoined the squadron, and as part of it undertook a long cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, returning to Ferrol at the end of December 1930. On 31 December 1930, arrived at Ferrol and entered the shipyard for repairs.
After completion of her repairs, was scheduled to get underway from Ferrol on 6 February 1931 and proceed to Cartagena, but instead she received orders to wait until and could join her at Ferrol. While awaiting them, she departed Ferrol on 13 February for a voyage to Bilbao and returned to Ferrol on 27 February. After and arrived at Ferrol from Valencia, the three light cruisers got underway for a cruise on 9 March 1931. They called at Cádiz on 10 March and again from , then departed for a voyage to Palma de Mallorca. They arrived at Barcelona along with and on 29 March. The five ships called at Tarragona from 1931, when they headed for Valencia.
When the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, chose to carry him into exile in France early on 14 April 1931. With him aboard, departed Cartagena on 15 AprilHemeroteca ABC and steamed to Gibraltar, where she picked up Prince Juan on 16 April. She then proceeded to Marseille to disembark the passengers on 16 April 1931.Hemeroteca ABC
Second Spanish Republic