Spanish cruiser Velasco

Velasco
History
Spain
Name	Velasco
Namesake	Luis Vicente de Velasco
Builder	Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd.
Launched	1881
Fate	Sunk 1 May 1898
General characteristics
Class and type	Velasco-class unprotected cruiser
Displacement	1,152 tons
Length	210 ft 0 in (64.01 m)
Beam	32 ft 0 in (9.75 m)
Draft	13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) maximum
Installed power	1,500 ihp (1,100 kW)
Propulsion	1-shaft, horizontal compound, 4-cylinder boilers
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	173 officers and enlisted
Armament	4 × 6 in (152 mm) guns 2 × 3 in (76 mm) guns 2 × machine guns 2 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Notes	200 to 220 tons of coal (normal)

Velasco was a Velasco-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy which fought in the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.

Technical characteristics

Velasco was built by the Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. at Leamouth, London in the United Kingdom, as the lead ship of a new class of eight Spanish unprotected cruisers. Her keel was laid in 1881. She had one rather tall funnel. She had an iron hull and was rigged as a barque. She and the second ship of the class, Gravina, also built in the United Kingdom, were differently armed from and slightly faster than the final six ships of the class, all of which were built in Spain.

Operational history

The wreck of Velasco

In 1891 the cruiser was sent on a patrol to Northern Luzon and the surrounding islands to watch out for potentially suspicious activities of Japanese merchant shipping.

When the Spanish–American War began in April 1898, Velasco was anchored in Manila Bay off the Cavite Peninsula as part of Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron's Pacific Squadron. In the Battle of Manila Bay, she was still anchored there when the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron attacked Montojo's squadron on 1 May 1898. Her boilers were ashore being repaired. All her guns were apparently removed to the Caballo Island Battery. She did not participate in the battle although ended up sunk.

The view looking forward from the poop deck aboard the wreck of Velasco.

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. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Nofi, Albert A. The Spanish–American War, 1898. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Combined Books, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-938289-57-8.
• Saniel, Josefa M. Japan and the Philippines, 1868-1898. New York, New York: Russel & Russel, 1973. ISBN 0-8462-1724-4

External links

• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Spanish Navy Ships: Velasco (Cruiser, 1881–1898)