Infanta Isabeldisplaced 1,190 tons.[1] She was 64 metres (210ft 0in) long and 9.70 metres (31ft 10in) in beam, 5.33 metres (17ft 6in) in height, and 3.86 metres (12ft 8in) in draft.[1] She had a double-pressure steam engine with four boilers that generated 1,500 horsepower (1,119kW).[1] She had a sail area of 1,132 square metres (12,185sqft), later reduced to 823 square metres (8,859sqft).[1] She could reach a maximum speed of 14 knots (26km/h; 16mph).[1] She could carry up to 240 tons of coal and had a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700km; 2,300mi).[1] Her armament consisted of four 120-millimetre (4.7in) Hontoria guns, two 70-millimetre (2.8in) guns, four machine guns, and two torpedo tubes. She had a crew of 180 men. Her construction cost was 1,150,000 pesetas.[1]
In 1887, Infanta Isabel received orders to proceed to the South American Station at the Río de la Plata (River Plate) and replace the screw corvetteAfrica there. She arrived at Montevideo, Uruguay, on 17June 1887. On 10July 1887, she collaborated with local authorities at Buenos Aires, Argentina, during disastrous flooding and evacuated people from Recreo Island in the Riachuelo River, saving 27lives.[1] Grateful Argentinians held numerous celebrations in her honor and presented her with a commemorative plaque. She returned to Montevideo on 25July 1887, but returned to Buenos Aires several times and steamed up the Uruguay River, providing various services.[1]
On 18September 1890 Auñón received orders for Infanta Isabel to return to Spain.[1] She began her homeward voyage when she departed Montevideo on 12October 1890, setting course for Cádiz. Her sister shipCristóbal Colón arrived at Montevideo on 14November 1890 to replace her.[1]
1891–1897
On 12October 1892, Infanta Isabel participated in a naval review held at New York City on the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus′s discovery of the Americas.[1] As celebrations of the quadricentennial of the discovery continued, another major event at New York, the International Columbian Naval Rendezvous and Review, was scheduled for 1893. In February 1893, replicas of Christopher Columbus's three ships, the caravelsNiña and Pinta and the carrackSanta Maria, left Huelva, Spain, bound for Havana in the Captaincy General of Cuba. They departed Havana on 15April 1893 under the overall command of Infanta Isabel′s commanding officer bound for the United States, with Infanta Isabeltowing the replica of Pinta, the protected cruiserReina Regente towing the replica of Santa María, and the gunboat Nueva España towing the replica of Niña. They arrived at dawn on 21April at Hampton Roads, Virginia, where a U.S. Navy squadron and other foreign warships were waiting for them.[6] Accompanied by the U.S. Navy squadron and the other foreign warships, they set out at dawn on 23April for New York City, where they arrived that night and anchored in the Lower Bay of New York Harbor.[6] They took part in the Columbian Naval Review on the Hudson River at New York on 27April 1893.[6][7]Reina Regente remained behind at New York for drydock work, but Infanta Isabel and Nueva España got underway from New York on 2May for Havana, which they reached on 8May 1893.[1]
After her sister ship Cristóbal Colón sank off Cuba on 29September 1895, Infanta Isabel, her sister ship Conde de Venadito, and the unprotected cruiser Reina Cristina engaged in salvage efforts at the scene of the wreck. They succeeded in recovering Cristóbal Colón′s safe and torpedo tubes and some of her guns.[14]
By 1897, Infanta Isabel was part of the Training Squadron. To represent Spain at ceremonies in the United States recognizing what would have been the 75th birthday of the late PresidentUlysses S. Grant and celebrating the opening of Grant's Tomb in New York City, Infanta Isabel got underway from Mahón on Menorca in the Balearic Islands on 3April 1897 in company with the armored cruiserInfanta Maria Teresa and proceeded to New York, which the two ships reached on the day of the tomb's dedication, 27April 1897.[1][15] After completing their participation in the planned events, the two cruisers departed New York on 11May 1897.[1][15] They arrived at Mahón at the end of June 1897 and rejoined their squadron.[1][15]
1898–1927
The Spanish-American War broke out when the United States declared war on Spain on 25April 1898, stipulating that the declaration was retroactive to 21April. Infanta Isabel was at Havana when the war began. Her machinery required repairs, preventing her from putting to sea, and she remained inactive at Havana throughout the conflict.[1] The war ended on 13August 1898. After the war, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, which in its Article V stated that "[...] Flags and standards, warships not captured, portable weapons, cannons of all calibers will be the property of Spain..." Under this provision, Infanta Isabel returned to Spain in company with Conde de Venadito.[1]
In accordance with a Ministry of the Navy decree of 18May 1900, 25 Spanish Navy ships were decommissioned because of their lack of combat value.[16] Regarding Infanta Isabel, however, the decree stated "The Infanta Isabel, also of no military value, is suitable for service in the Canary Islands, the Gold Coast, and the possessions of Guinea, and her conservation, as long as there is no other of military efficiency, seems unavoidable. [...] Art. 2. Of the remaining ships, the Numancia, the Vitoria, and the Infanta Isabel will be decommissioned when they require the replacement of their current boilers or other important repairs or careening."[16] Unlike her two surviving sister ships, Conde de Venadito and Isabel II, which were decommissioned in 1900,[16]Infanta Isabel had her torpedo tubes removed, was converted into a gunboat, and remained in service.
Infanta Isabel was in the Bay of La Concha off San Sebastián, Spain, when she suffered a boiler explosion on 3August 1900.[1] The explosion killed two men and injured 22 others.[1][17]
In 1902, Infanta Isabel steamed to the Canary Islands to rendezvous with the torpedo boatsAriete, Azor, and Rayo, which had been stationed there since they were separated from Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Pascual Cervera y Topete's squadron in April 1898 when it deployed to the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War. She escorted the three torpedo boats back to Spain.[1] In early January 1903, she deployed to Morocco to protect Spanish citizens and interests during unrest there.[18] On 15September 1904, she arrived at Mahón with a crew of 188 on board.[1] From 8 to 10 April 1907, she was part of a Spanish Navy squadron that assembled at Cartagena, Spain, on the occasion of the visit of the British KingEdward VII.[1]
Infanta Isabel was modernized between 1910 and 1911, during which her flanking redoubts were removed and her armament was altered to a single 70-millimetre (2.8in)Skoda gun on her forecastle and ten 57-millimetre (2.2in) guns on her broadsides, with five on each side.[1] During the following years, Infanta Isabel served along the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea, Spanish Sahara, and Morocco.[1] By 1921 her armament had become one 66-millimetre (2.6in) and ten 57-millimetre (2.2in) guns and her complement had risen to 194. She finally was decommissioned in 1926[1] after 39 years of service, by far the longest-lived ship of her class. She was stricken and scrapped in 1927.
↑Foster, Al (30 April 1893). "Grand Naval Review"(Advert). The Sun (New York, New York). p.9. Retrieved 3 July 2018. Grand Naval Review on Monday, May 1 Steamer Al Foster...
"Partes de campaña referentes a la división naval del Norte de América". Revista General de Marina (in Spanish). Vol.XXXIII. Madrid. July 1893.
Aguilera, Alfredo; Elías, Vicente (1980). Buques de guerra españoles, 1885-1971 (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial San Martín.
Blanco Núñez, José María (2011). La construcción naval en Ferrol, 1726-2011 (in Spanish). Navantia S.A.
Bordejé y Morencos, Fernando de (1995). Crónica de la Marina española en el siglo XIX, 1868-1898 (in Spanish). Vol.II. Madrid: Ministry of Defence.
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. ISBN0-8317-0302-4.
Gray, Randal, Ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN0-87021-907-3.
Lledó Calabuig, José (1998). Buques de vapor de la armada española, del vapor de ruedas a la fragata acorazada, 1834-1885 (in Spanish). Agualarga Editores. ISBN8495088754.
VV.AA (1999). El Buque en la Armada española (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial Sílex.
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