Name Almirante Ferrandiz Completed 1929 Decommissioned 1936 | Namesake José Ferrándiz y Niño Commissioned 1929 Length 101 m | |
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Fate 1936 sunk by the Spanish nationalist cruiser Canarias Builders Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, Cartagena, Spain | ||
Almirante Ferrándiz was a Churruca-class destroyer in the Spanish Republican Navy. She took part in the Spanish Civil War on the government side.
She was named in honor of José Ferrándiz y Niño, a Spanish Admiral and former Navy Minister.
History
Almirante Ferrándiz took part in the Gibraltar Strait blockade. When a Republican squadron penetrated the Cantabrian Sea to relieve Republican troops isolated in the north, she remained in the strait with Gravina to stop any movement of Nationalist troops between Africa and the Iberian peninsula.
In response, the nationalist heavy cruiser Canarias (which Republicans believed had been damaged by an aerial bomb) and light cruiser Almirante Cervera were sent to break the blockade.
On 29 September 1936, at the Battle of Cape Spartel, Canarias opened fire from 16 kilometres (8.6 nmi), and hit Almirante Ferrándiz with her second salvo. The Republican destroyer continued sailing away from Canarias, but the heavy cruiser struck her again with a third salvo, at 20 km (11 nmi). The destroyer took a total of six hits from Canarias's 200 mm (8 in) main armament and sank 33 km (18 nmi) off Calaburras with most of her crew. Canarias stopped to rescue 31 sailors from Almirante Ferrándiz and authorized the French liner Koutubia to pick up another 26, including her commander, José Luis Barbastro Jiménez.