Origins: the Middle Ages , 1372 The roots of the modern Spanish Navy date back to before the unification of Spain. By the late
Middle Ages, the two principal kingdoms that would later combine to form Spain,
Aragon and
Castile, had developed powerful fleets. Aragon possessed the third largest navy in the late medieval Mediterranean, although its capabilities were exceeded by those of
Venice and (until overtaken in the 15th century by those of Aragon)
Genoa. In the 14th and 15th centuries, these naval capabilities enabled Aragon to assemble the largest collection of territories of any European power in the Mediterranean, encompassing the
Balearics, Sardinia,
Sicily, southern Italy and, briefly, the
Duchy of Athens. Castile meanwhile used its naval capacities to conduct its
Reconquista operations against the
Moors, capturing
Cádiz in 1232 and also to help the French Crown against England in the
Hundred Years' War. In 1375, a Castilian fleet destroyed a large English fleet at Bourgneuf, and Castilian ships raided the English coast. As Castile developed long-lasting trade relationships with towns in the
Low Countries of the Netherlands and
Flanders, the
English Channel virtually became the "Spanish Channel." In 1402, a Castilian expedition led by
Juan de Bethencourt conquered the
Canary Islands for
Henry III of Castile. In 1419, the Castilians
defeated the German
Hanseatic League at sea and excluded them from the
Bay of Biscay. In the 15th century, Castile entered into a race of exploration with
Portugal, the country that inaugurated the European
Age of Discovery. In 1492, two
caravels and a
carrack, commanded by
Christopher Columbus, arrived in America, on an expedition that sought a westward oceanic passage across the Atlantic, to the Far East. This began the era of trans-oceanic trade routes, pioneered by the Spanish in the seas to the west of Europe and the Portuguese to the east.
The Habsburg era at
San Fernando's
Panteón de los Marinos Ilustres, depicting a list of victories of the
Armadas of Spain Following the discovery of America and the settlement of certain Caribbean islands, such as
Cuba, Spanish
conquistadors
Hernán Cortés and
Francisco Pizarro were carried by the Spanish Navy to the mainland, where they conquered
Mexico and
Peru respectively. The navy also carried explorers to the North American mainland, including
Juan Ponce de León and
Álvarez de Pineda, who discovered Florida (1519) and
Texas (1521) respectively. In 1519, Spain sent out the first expedition of
world circumnavigation in history, which was put in the charge of the Portuguese Commander
Ferdinand Magellan. Following the death of Magellan in the
Philippines, the expedition was completed under the command of
Juan Sebastián Elcano in 1522. In 1565, a follow-on expedition by
Miguel López de Legazpi was carried by the navy from
New Spain (Mexico) to the Philippines via
Guam to establish the
Spanish East Indies, a base for trade with the
Orient. For two and a half centuries, the
Manila galleons operated across the Pacific linking
Manila and
Acapulco. Until the early 17th century, the Pacific Ocean was dominated by the Spanish Navy. Aside from the
Marianas and
Caroline Islands, several naval expeditions also discovered the
Tuvalu archipelago, the
Marquesas, the
Solomon Islands and
New Guinea in the South Pacific. In the quest for
Terra Australis, Spanish explorers in the 17th century also discovered the
Pitcairn and
Vanuatu archipelagos. Most significantly, from 1565 Spanish fleets explored and colonised the Philippine archipelago, the Spanish East Indies. After the unification of its kingdoms under the
House of Habsburg, Spain maintained two largely separate fleets, one consisting chiefly of
galleys for use in the Mediterranean and the other of sailing ships for the Atlantic, successors to the Aragonese and Castilian navies respectively. This arrangement continued until superseded by the decline of galley warfare during the 17th century. The completion of the
Reconquista with the conquest of the
Kingdom of Granada in 1492 had been followed by naval expansion in the Mediterranean, where Spain seized control of almost every significant port along the coast of
North Africa west of
Cyrenaica, notably
Melilla (captured 1497),
Mers El Kébir (1505),
Oran (1509),
Algiers (1510) and
Tripoli (
1510), which marked the furthest point of this advance. However, the hinterlands of these ports remained under the control of their Muslim and
Berber inhabitants, and the expanding naval power of the
Ottoman Empire brought about a major Islamic counter-offensive, which embroiled Spain in decades of intense warfare for control of the Mediterranean. The war saw cooperation with the
Republic of Genoa under the leadership of
Andrea Doria, while the Ottomans found an ally in
France. In its course, the Spanish under
Álvaro de Bazán the Elder would defeat the French in the first large modern battle in the Atlantic in
Muros Bay. The Spanish navy was completely reorganized under King
Philip II, who disposed of the traditionally semi-private armada operated by Spain. In the Atlantic, Spanish ships had been exclusively private vessels sailing under charter, while in the Mediterranean, the kingdom owned directly only small numbers of ships, hiring the rest by contract (
asiento) from players who acted as both shipbuilders and admirals, chiefly Doria and Bazán the Elder. The disaster of
Djerba in 1560 forcefully changed this landscape, driving Philip to initiate a building program which produced and maintained 300 galleys in fourteen years, roughly quadrupling the naval power his father
Charles V had enjoyed. In the Atlantic Ocean, similar attempts to form a royal navy peaked after the
incorporation of Portugal to the Spanish monarchy, leading to the creation of a strong, 100-vessel armada by the 1580s. Attacks of foreign privateers also caused the emergence of a system of bi-annual
convoys, where ships crossing to America would only do so as part of grand fleets to facilitate defense. From the 1570s, the lengthy
Dutch Revolt increasingly challenged Spanish sea power, producing powerful rebel naval forces that attacked Spanish shipping and in time made Spain's sea communications with its possessions in the Low Countries difficult. Most notable of these attacks was the
Battle of Gibraltar in 1607, in which a Dutch
squadron destroyed a fleet of
galleons at anchor in the confines of the bay. This naval war took on a global dimension with actions in the Caribbean and the Far East, notably around the Philippines. Spain's response to its problems included the encouragement of
privateers based in the
Spanish Netherlands and known from their main base as
Dunkirkers, who preyed on Dutch merchant ships and
fishing trawlers. , 1571 After decisively repealing a large Franco-Ottoman
siege of Oran and reinforcing the Christian position in the
Great Siege of Malta, Spain was part of the Holy League along with Venice, the
Papal States and other Christian allies, inflicting a great defeat on the
Ottoman Navy in the
Battle of Lepanto (1571) and stopping Muslim forces from gaining uncontested control of the eastern Mediterranean. In 1580, after a successful amphibious campaign by
Álvaro de Bazán the Younger, Spain entered a
dynastic union with Portugal, reaching the apex of its naval power as a result of the combined might of its navy with the
Portuguese navy, and effectively becoming the most powerful maritime force in the world. In the 1580s, the conflict in the Netherlands drew England into
war with Spain, creating a further menace to Spanish shipping. The effort to neutralise this threat led to a
disastrous attempt to invade England in 1588, however, the disaster of the
English Armada the following year managed to return the balance between the belligerents. The defeat of 1588 led to a reform of fleet operations. The navy at this time was not a single operation but consisted of various fleets, made up mainly of armed merchantmen with escorts of royal ships. The Armada fiasco marked a turning point in naval warfare, where gunnery was now more important than ramming and boarding and so Spanish ships were equipped with purpose built naval guns. During the 1590s, the expansion of these fleets allowed a great increase in overseas trade and a massive increase in the importation of luxuries and silver. Nevertheless, inadequate port defences allowed an Anglo-Dutch force to
raid Cádiz in 1596, and though unsuccessful in its objective of capturing the silver from the just returned convoy, was able to inflict great damage upon the city. Port defences at Cádiz were upgraded and all attempts to repeat the attack in the following centuries would fail. Meanwhile, Spanish ships were able to step up operations in the English Channel, the
North Sea and towards Ireland. They were able to capture many enemy ships, merchant and military, in the early decades of the 17th century and provide military supplies to Spanish armies in France and the Low Countries and to Irish rebels in Ireland. In the early 17th century Spanish fleets organized by the
Duke of Osuna inflicted major defeats on Ottoman Empire in the
Battle of Cape Corvo and
Cape Gelidonya, the latter of which demonstrated the now growing gap between western and eastern navies, along with a
raid on Constantinople. The
Barbary corsairs in the service of the Ottoman Empire would gradually become only a civilian threat after being bested in battles like
Gulf of Tunis and
Dalmatia and multiple raids on the
Ottoman Tunisia. These battles stabilised the situation on the
eastern Mediterranean front, while in the Spanish Netherlands the allied privateers and local armada under
Francisco de Ribera would successfully disrupt Dutch maritime trade. However, in 1639, an attempt to change their strategy to direct action led to a Dutch fleet under
Maarten Tromp decisively defeating a large Spanish fleet in the
Battle of the Downs, putting an end to Spanish operations in northern waters. By the middle of the 17th century, Spain had been drained by the vast strains of the
Thirty Years' and related wars and began to slip into a slow decline. During the middle to late decades of the century, the Dutch, English and French were able to take advantage of Spain's shrinking, run-down and increasingly underequipped fleets. Military priorities in continental Europe meant that naval affairs were increasingly neglected. The Dutch took control of the
smaller islands of the Caribbean, while England conquered
Jamaica and France the western part of
Santo Domingo. These territories became bases for raids on Spanish New World ports and shipping by pirates and privateers. The Spanish concentrated their efforts in keeping the most important islands, such as Cuba,
Puerto Rico and the majority of Santo Domingo, while the system of
treasure fleets, despite being greatly diminished, was rarely defeated in safely conveying its freight of silver and Asian luxuries across the Atlantic to Europe. Only two such convoys were ever lost to enemy action with their cargo, one to a
Dutch fleet in 1628 and another to an
English fleet in 1656. A third convoy was destroyed at anchor by another
English attack in 1657, but it had already unloaded its treasure. By the time of the wars of the
Grand Alliance (1688–97) and the
Spanish Succession (1702–14), the Habsburg regime had decided that it was more cost effective to rely on allied fleets, Anglo-Dutch and French respectively, than to invest in its own fleets. Around this time, a service of defensive privateering based on America named
guarda costa was established.
The Bourbon era The War of the Spanish Succession arose after the establishment on the Spanish throne of a
House of Bourbon king, following the extinction of the Spanish Habsburg line. The internal division between supporters of a Habsburg and those of a Bourbon king led to a civil war and ultimately to the loss of Sicily, Sardinia,
Menorca and
Gibraltar. Gibraltar and Menorca were captured by Anglo-Dutch forces fighting under the Spanish flag of Habsburg contender
Charles VI. Menorca was ultimately surrendered to Spain years later. At the end of the War of Spanish Succession, Spain's possessions in the Low Countries and
mainland Italy were ceded to
Austria. , one of the Spanish heroes of the
Battle of Trafalgar by
Richard Paton Attempting to reverse the losses of the previous war, in the
War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20) the Spanish Navy successfully convoyed armies to invade Sicily and
Sardinia, but the poorly maintained escort fleet was destroyed by the British in the
Battle of Cape Passaro and the Spanish invasion army was defeated in Italy by the Austrians. A major program to renovate and reorganise the run-down navy was begun. A
secretaría (ministry) of the army and navy had been established by the Bourbon regime as early as 1714; which centralized the command and administration of the different fleets. Following the war of Quadruple Alliance, a program of rigorous standardization was introduced in ships, operations, and administration. Given the needs of its empire, Spanish warship designs tended to be more orientated towards long-range escort and patrol duties than for battle. A major reform of the Spanish Navy was initiated, updating its ships and administration, which was helped by French and Italian experts, although Spaniards, most notably
Antonio de Gaztañeta and
Jorge Juan, soon rose to prominence in this work, which made Spain a leader in warship design and quality again, as was demonstrated by ships like
Princesa. A major naval yard was established at
Havana, enabling the navy to maintain a permanent force in the Americas for the defence of the colonies and the suppression of piracy and smuggling, complemented by
guarda costa privateers. In metropolitan Spain, significant forest reconnaissance operations were regularly undertaken by Spanish naval officers to seek out sources of
timber suitable for shipbuilding. During the
War of the Polish Succession (1733–38), a renewed attempt to regain the lost Italian territories for the Bourbon dynasty was successful; with the French as allies and the British and Dutch neutral, Spain launched a campaign by sea and retook Sicily and southern Italy from Austria. In the
War of Jenkins' Ear, the navy showed it was able to maintain communications with the American colonies and resupply Spanish forces in Italy in the face of British naval opposition. The navy played an important part in the decisive
Battle of Cartagena de Indias in modern-day
Colombia, where a massive British invasion fleet and army were defeated by a smaller Spanish force commanded by able strategist
Blas de Lezo. This Spanish victory prolonged Spain's supremacy in the Americas until the early 19th century. The program of naval renovation was continued and by the 1750s the Spanish navy had outstripped the Dutch to become the third most powerful in the world, behind only those of Britain and France. Joining France against Britain near the end of the
Seven Years' War (1756–63), the navy failed to prevent the British
capturing Havana, during which the Spanish squadron present was also captured. In the
American War of Independence (1775–83), the Spanish Navy was essential to the establishment, in combination with the French and Dutch navies, of a numerical advantage that stretched British naval resources. They played a vital role, along with the French and Dutch, in maintaining military supplies to the American rebels. The navy also played a key role in the Spanish Army-led operations that defeated the British in Florida. The bulk of the purely naval combat on the allied side fell to the
French Navy, although Spain achieved lucrative successes with the capture of two great British convoys meant for the resupply of British forces and loyalists in North America. Joint operations with France resulted in the
capture of Menorca but failed in the
siege of Gibraltar. This time also marked the creation of
fuerzas sutiles, a long-lasting and successful policy based on
gunboats and small vessels armed with heavy artillery. Having initially opposed France in the
French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802), Spain changed sides in 1796, but defeat by the British a few months later in the
Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797) and
Trinidad (1798) was followed by the blockade of the main Spanish fleet in Cádiz. The run down of naval operations had as much to do with the confused political situation in Spain as it had to do with the blockade. The British blockade of Spain's ports was of limited success and an attempt to
attack Cádiz was defeated; ships on special missions and convoys successfully evaded the Cádiz blockade and other ports continued to operate with little difficulty, but the main battle fleets were largely inactive. The blockade was lifted with the
Peace of Amiens 1802.
The war recommenced in 1804 and ended in 1808 when the Spain and the United Kingdom became allied against
Napoleon. As in the first part, Cádiz was blockaded and Spanish naval activity was minimal. The most notable event was Spanish involvement in the
Battle of Trafalgar under French leadership. This resulted in the Spanish Navy losing eleven
ships-of-the-line or over a quarter of its line-of-battle ships. After Spain became allied with the United Kingdom in 1808 in its
war of independence, the Spanish Navy
joined the war effort against Napoleon.
The 19th century The 1820s saw the loss of most of the
Spanish Empire in the Americas. With the empire greatly reduced in size and Spain divided and unstable after its own war of independence, the navy lost its importance and shrank greatly. The first new steam-driven vessel (
Isabel II) was purchased from the United Kingdom in 1834. However, in the 1850s and 1860s, particularly under the prime-ministership of
General O'Donnell, significant investments were made in the Spanish naval squadrons of the Pacific. A new steam-powered naval squadron sailed around the Pacific escorting a Spanish scientific expedition and unfortunately became entangled in what has been billed the
First War of the Pacific from 1864 to 1871. During the conflict, the Spanish massed a fleet of 15 vessels to combat the combined navies of Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. anchored in the Suez Canal in 1898, formed among others by the battleship or the cruiser and that ultimately did not intervene in the
Spanish–American War. The 1890s saw the Spanish Navy gain several
armored cruisers—important for maintaining connection with the Spanish Empire's remaining colonies—including the . As of 1896, according to the plans of Admiral
José María Beránger, there were three naval divisions based at
Cádiz,
Ferrol, and
Cartagena. Each division was composed of
ironclads, in addition to auxiliary squadrons for defense of the Spanish coastline. That year the Armada consisted of one
battleship, eight cruisers of the first class, six of the second class, and nine of the third class, as well as 38 torpedo craft. There were an additional ten vessels under construction. As of 1896 there were 1,002 officers in the navy, along with 725 mechanics, 14,000 sailors, and 9,000 marines. Their numbers were maintained by conscription of the seafaring population. During the
Spanish–American War in 1898, a badly supported and equipped Spanish fleet of four armored cruisers and two
destroyers was overwhelmed by numerically and technically superior forces (three new battleships, one new second-class battleship, and one large armored cruiser) as it tried to break out of an American blockade in the
Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
Admiral Cervera's squadron was overrun in an attempt to break a powerful American blockade off Cuba. In the Philippines, a squadron, made up of aging ships, including some obsolete cruisers, had already been sacrificed in a token gesture in
Manila Bay. The
Battle of Manila Bay took place on 1 May 1898. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore
George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral
Patricio Montojo y Pasarón. The engagement took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines, and was the first major engagement of the Spanish–American War. This war marked the end for the Spanish Navy as a global maritime force. At the end of the 19th century, the Spanish Navy adopted the
Salve Marinera, a hymn to the
Virgin Mary as
Stella Maris, as its official
anthem.
The 20th and 21st centuries During the
Rif War in Morocco, the Spanish Navy conducted operations along the coast, including the
Alhucemas landing in 1925, the first air-naval landing of the world. At that time, the navy developed a
naval aviation branch, the
Aeronáutica naval.
The Spanish Republic and Spanish Civil War In 1931, following the proclamation of the
Second Spanish Republic, the Navy of the Spanish Kingdom became the
Spanish Republican Navy.
Admiral Aznar's casual comment:
"Do you think it was a little thing what happened yesterday, that Spain went to bed as a monarchy and rose as a republic" became instantly famous, going quickly around
Madrid and around Spain, making people accept the fact and setting a more relaxed mood. The Spanish Republican Navy introduced a few changes in the
flags and ensigns, as well as in the navy officer rank insignia. The
executive curl (La coca) was replaced by a golden five-pointed star and the royal crown of the brass buttons and of the officers' breastplates
(La gola) became a
mural crown. The Spanish Republican Navy became divided after the
coup of July 1936 that led to the
Spanish Civil War (1936–39). The fleet's two
small dreadnoughts, one
heavy cruiser, one
large destroyer and half a dozen submarines and auxiliary vessels were lost in the course of the conflict.
World War II Like the rest of the Spanish armed forces, the Spanish Francoist Navy maintained
Francisco Franco's policy of neutrality during
World War II.
Post World War II in
Torrevieja (
Alicante), becoming the first "floating museum" of these characteristics in Spain (ex ), flagship between 1975 and 1989, tied up at a pier at
Naval Station Rota in 1976 Since the mid-20th century, the Spanish Navy began a process of reorganization to once again become one of the major navies of the world. After the development of the s based on the
US Navy's , the Spanish Navy embraced the American
naval doctrine. Spain became a member of
NATO in 1982 and the Armada Española has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations, from
SFOR to
Haiti and other locations around the world. The Armada is a modern navy with an
aircraft carrier group, a modern
strategic amphibious ship (which replaced a dedicated
aircraft carrier in 2011), modern frigates (F-100 class) with the
Aegis Combat System, F-80-class frigates,
minesweepers, new s, amphibious ships and various other ships, including oceanographic
research ships. The Armada's
special operations and unconventional warfare capability is embodied in the Naval Special Warfare Command (
Mando de Guerra Naval Especial), which is under the direct control of the Admiral of the Fleet. The unit in charge of special operations is the
Naval Special Warfare Force (
Fuerza de Guerra Naval Especial), which is a merge of the previous
Special Operations Unit (
Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE)) and the
Special Combat Diver Unit (
Unidad Especial de Buceadores de Combate (UEBC)). This unit is trained in maritime counter-terrorism, specialized combat diving and swimming, coastal infiltration, ship boarding, direct action, special reconnaissance, hydrographic reconnaissance and underwater demolitions. Armada officers receive their education at the
Spanish Naval Academy (ENM). They are recruited through two different methods: •
Militar de Complemento: Similar to the U.S.
ROTC program, students are college graduates who enroll in the navy. They spend a year at the Naval Academy and then are commissioned as ensigns and Marine second lieutenants. This path is growing in prestige. Their career stops at the rank of commander (for the Navy) and for the Marines, lieutenant colonel. •
Militar de Carrera: Students spend one year in the Naval Academy if they apply to the Supply Branch or the Engineering Branch, and five years if they apply as General Branch or Marines, receiving a university degree-equivalent upon graduation and being commissioned as ensigns and Marine second lieutenants. ==Current status==