1/1800 Espana BB (Spanish Navy)

The España class was a series of three dreadnought battleships built for the Spanish Navy between 1909 and 1921. The construction of the ships, particularly the third vessel, was significantly delayed due to shortages of materiel supplied by Great Britain during World War I. The class was comprised of España (Spain), Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I. The three ships were the only Spanish dreadnoughts ever built. They were also the smallest battleships of the type constructed, owing to the weak Spanish economy. The ships were armed with eight 12-inch (305 mm) guns, but their small displacement—only 15,700 metric tons (15,500 long tons; 17,300 short tons)—forced the designers to compromise on armor protection and speed. España, Alfonso XIII, and Jaime I served in the 1st Squadron of the Spanish Fleet, which became the Training Squadron in the 1920s. They all saw action during the Rif War in the early 1920s supporting Spanish ground forces in North Africa. España ran aground in August 1923 and the Navy could not salvage her; she instead broke up under tidal forces. Alfonso XIII was renamed España in 1931 after her namesake, King Alfonso XIII was forced into exile. The two surviving ships served on opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War, and both were destroyed during the conflict. España struck a naval mine laid by her own side on 30 April 1937 and sank, and Jaime I was destroyed by an internal explosion in June 1937.