Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy (Armada Española) 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, the most famous being the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the first global circumnavigation by Magellan and Elcano. For several centuries it played a crucial logistical role in the Spanish Empire and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Europe and across the Pacific Ocean between Asia and the Americas. The Spanish Navy was the most powerful maritime force in the world in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Reform under the Bourbon dynasty improved its logistical and military capacity in the 18th century, for most of which Spain possessed the world's third largest navy.

The main bases of the Spanish Navy are located in Rota, El Ferrol, San Fernando and Cartagena.

Origins: the Middle Ages
The roots of the modern Spanish navy date back before the unification of Spain. By the late Middle Ages, the two principal kingdoms which 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 Cadiz in 1232 and also to help the French Crown against its enemies in the Hundred Years' War. In 1402 a Castilian expedition led by Juan de Bethencourt conquered the Canary Islands for Henry III of Castile.

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 one 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
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 in order 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. 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 (1511), 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 western Mediterranean. (Algiers and Tripoli would be lost to the Ottomans later in the 16th century.) From the 1570s the Dutch Revolt increasingly challenged Spanish sea power, producing powerful rebel naval forces which 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. At the Battle of Lepanto (1571), the Holy League, formed by Spain, Venice, the Papal States and other Christian allies, inflicted a great defeat on the Ottoman Navy, stopping Muslim forces from gaining uncontested control of the Mediterranean.

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. This defeat 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 the overseas trade and massive increase in the importation of luxuries and silver. Nevertheless, inadequate port defences allowed an Anglo-Dutch force to raid Cadiz 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 Cadiz 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 channel, the North Sea and to 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.

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 luxeries 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.

The Bourbon era
The War of the Spanish Succession arose from the establishment on the Spanish throne of an offshoot of France's ruling House of Bourbon after the extinction of the Spanish Habsburg line. French naval failures and the division of Spain by civil war led to the loss of Sicily, Sardinia, Minorca and Gibraltar and the temporary occupation of the other Balearic islands and parts of mainland Spain, which was extensively fought over for several years as a result. Spain's possessions in the Netherlands and mainland Italy were also lost. Attempting to reverse the losses of the previous war, in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20) the navy successfully convoyed armies to invade Sicily and Sardinia but the 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 Castaneta, soon rose to prominence in this work which made Spain a leader in warship design and quality again, as was demonstrated by ships like the 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. 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. 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 Minorca but failed in the siege of Gibraltar.

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 was followed by the blockade of the main Spanish fleet in Cadiz. 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 blockade was only partially successful; ships on special missions and even convoys evaded the blockade but otherwise the fleets were, for the most part, inactive. The blockade was lifted with the Peace of Amiens 1802.

The Navy in the 19th century
The 19th century saw the loss of most of the Spanish Empire. The size of the navy was reduced following the loss of Spain's major American territories. In 1805 a Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated by the British Royal Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar. The Spanish fleet was forced into the battle by French Admiral Villanueve, using inexperienced crews against veteran sailors. Of 15 Spanish ships that participated, 6 made it back to Cadiz. The battle pitted 33 ships of the Franco-Spanish squadron against 27 British ships.

At the time the navy's forces totalled some 150 ships, including 45 ships of the line. Following Trafalgar, some were left in port under blockade until they joined the anti-Napoleonic coalition in 1808. In the years immediately afterwards, the crisis of Spain's Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic years resulted in some ships being run down, training being neglected and its administration becoming overrun by corruption. Following the loss of most of Spain's colonies in the Americas there was no longer the need to maintain such a large fleet.

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 ageing 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, during the Spanish–American War. 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 ended any pretense of Spanish Naval influential presence in the world. However, not only was it the end of an era for Spain, but 1898 also signaled, in historical terms, of the rapid end of all European naval dominance in the world.

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. 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.

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 is a member of NATO since 1982 and the Armada Española has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations, from SFOR to Haiti and other locations around the world. Today's Armada is a modern navy with a carrier group, a modern strategic amphibious ship (which has recently replaced a dedicated aircraft carrier), 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. Two units operate under this command:
 * The Special Operations Unit (Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE)): Special operations unit trained in maritime counter-terrorism, combat diving and swimming, coastal infiltration, ship boarding, direct action, and special reconnaissance.
 * The Combat Diver Unit (Unidad Especial de Buceadores de Combate (UEBC)): Specialized combat diving unit trained in underwater demolitions and hydrographic reconnaissance.

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
Subordinate to the Spanish Chief of Naval Staff, stationed in Madrid, are four area commands: the Cantabrian Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Ferrol on the Atlantic coast; the Straits Maritime Zone with its headquarters at San Fernando near Cadiz; the Mediterranean Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Cartagena; and the Canary Islands Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Operational naval units are classified by mission and assigned to either the combat forces, the protective forces, or the auxiliary forces. Combat forces are given the tasks of conducting offensive and defensive operations against potential enemies and for assuring maritime communications. Their principal vessels included two carrier groups, naval aircraft, transports, landing vessels, submarines, and missile-armed fast attack craft. Protective forces have the mission of securing maritime communications over both ocean and coastal routes, securing the approaches to ports and maritime terminals. Their principal components are destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and minesweepers. It also has marine units for the defense of naval installations. Auxiliary forces are responsible for transportation and provisioning at sea and has diverse tasks like coast guard operations, scientific work, and maintenance of training vessels. In addition to supply ships and tankers, the force included destroyers and a large number of patrol craft.

Until February 2013, when it was decommissioned because of budget cuts, the second largest vessel of the Armada was the aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias, which entered service in 1988 after completing sea trials. Built in Spain it was designed with a "ski-jump" takeoff deck. Its complement was twenty nine AV-8 Harrier II vertical (or short) takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft or sixteen helicopters designed for antisubmarine warfare and to support marine landings.

As of 2012, the Armada has a strength of 20,800 personnel.

Armada Española Air Arm
The Armada Española Air Arm is known as the Spanish Naval Air Arm in English and constitutes the naval aviation branch of the Spanish Navy.

Infanteria de Marina
The Infanteria de Marina are the marine infantry of the Spanish Navy, they have a strength of 11,500 troops and are divided into base defense forces and landing forces. One of the three base defense battalions is stationed with each of the Navy headquarters. "Groups" (midway between battalions and regiments) are stationed in Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Tercio (fleet - regiment equivalent) is available for immediate embarkation and based out of San Fernando. Its principal weapons include light tanks, armored personnel vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and TOW and Dragon antitank missiles.

Ships and submarines
As of 2013, there are approximately 54 commissioned ships in the Navy (excluding minor auxiliary vessels), including one amphibious assault ship (also used as an aircraft carrier), two amphibious transport docks, 11 frigates, three submarines, six mine countermeasure vessels, 23 patrol vessels and a number of auxiliary ships. The total displacement of the Spanish Navy is approximately 220,000 tonnes.

Rank structure
The officer ranks of the Spanish Navy are as follows below, (for a comparison with other NATO ranks, see Ranks and Insignia of NATO). Midshipmen are further divided into 1st and 2nd Classes and Officer Cadets 3rd and 4th Classes respectively.

Organization

 * The Fleet (Headquarters located at Rota)
 * Projection Group located at Rota
 * 1 LHD / multi-purpose warship and aircraft carrier SPANISH SHIP Juan Carlos I. 27,079 Tons.
 * 2 LPD s. 13,818 tons.
 * 1 Replenishment ship SPS Patiño (located at Ferrol). 17,045 tons.
 * 1 Replenishment ship SPS Cantabria (located at Ferrol). 19,500 tons.
 * 41st Escort Squadron located at Rota
 * 6 Frigates . 4,017 tons.
 * 31st Escort Squadron located at Ferrol
 * 5 AEGIS Destroyers . 6,250 tons.
 * Submarine flotilla located at Cartagena.
 * 3 Submarines S-70 Galerna . 1,740 tons.
 * 4 AIP Submarines . (Under construction) 2,426 tons.
 * MCM flotilla located at Cartagena
 * 6 Minehunters M-30 . 585 tons.
 * Patrol craft flotilla
 * 4 Corvettes . 1,666 tons.
 * 7 Patrol Ships, Buque de Acción Marítima. (3 ordered.) 2,500 tons.
 * 4 Patrol Ships . 1,276 tons.
 * 3 Patrol Ships (These vessels differ in detail). c1,500 tons.
 * Various small patrol boats (being deleted as the Meteoros commission).


 * TOTAL Tons Main Vessels: 233,596Tons