Name Reina Regente Yard number 236 Completed 1 January 1888 Launched 24 February 1887 | Builder Thomson J. & G. Laid down 20 June 1886 Construction started 20 June 1886 Length 97 m | |
 | ||
Namesake Maria Christina of Austria | ||
Reina Regente was a Spanish protected cruiser of the Regia Regente class that sank in a storm in the Gulf of Cádiz while she was travelling from Cádiz, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. Entering service in 1888, the ship was lost in 1895.
Contents
Construction
Reina Regente was the first cruiser built of her class with sister ships Alfonso XIII and Lepanto. She was laid down on 20 June 1886 and launched on 24 February 1887 at the Thomson J. & G. shipyard in Govan, United Kingdom. She was completed on 1 January 1888 and named Reina Regente in honor to the queen of Spain, mother of Alfonso XIII. She sailed for the Spanish Navy from 1888 until her demise in 1895. The ship was 97.3 metres (319 ft 3 in) long, with a beam of 15.4 metres (50 ft 6 in) and a draught of 8.92 metres (29 ft 3 in). The ship was assessed at 4,725 tons. She had 2 triple expansion engines driving a single screw propeller and 4 cylindrical boilers. The engine was rated at 11.500 nhp.
Fate
On 9 March 1895, Reina Regente sailed from Cádiz, Spain to Tangier, Morocco with 420 crew on board under the command of Captain Francisco Sanz de Andino.
As the ship entered the Gulf of Cádiz, strong winds and heavy seas started to overwhelm the ship. Captain Andino ordered to return to Cádiz as he knew the storm was too great for the ship. The ship however never made it back to Cádiz and was never seen again. In the following days a search was undertaken in the hope of finding the ship somewhere sheltered in an African port. However, wreckage from the cruiser started to wash up on the beaches of Tarifa and Algeciras. The cruiser had disappeared and had probably sunk somewhere in the Gulf of Cádiz together with the 420 crew who were on board at the time. The current location of the ship is still unknown, but this incident remains one of the deadliest shipwrecks of the Spanish Navy.