Post by vonfriedman on Jan 9, 2022 9:25:05 GMT -6
We are able to publish a letter of the former Capitàn General to the Minister of the Navy.
Excellence!
After many years of hard work and battles, I am able to report on the events concerning our glorious Navy.
Ours is a poor country, burdened by the obligation to preserve the still extensive remains of the ancient Empire: Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, the Philippines and various Pacific islands. In particular, we can only keep a few gunboats and a few old cruisers down there. Our good administration, combined with the presence of the aforementioned warships, made it possible to avoid any internal problem.
For my further fortune, during the first years our Navy only had to face the challenges brought by Italy and Austria-Hungary, over which it easily got the better of.
Things changed around 1930, with the advent of a fascist dictatorship in Germany and with the incredible, incomprehensible attitude of France and the USA that both allied themselves with the so-called Fuehrer - and his Italian accomplice - to our detriment. Only our alliance with Great Britain and our glorious Fleet, which sacrificed itself to obtain a decisive victory over the French in defense of our possessions in Sardinia, made it possible to contain the damage.
In that hard war I learned many things. For example, how difficult it is for our captains to maintain an adequate destroyer screen after abrupt course reversals. I also learned how dangerous it is to operate against the enemy coast, without adequate air cover. Regarding this last point, I find it inadmissible that our General Staff imposes the date and time of these operations, without taking into account the advantages that could be obtained by exploiting the weather.
I have little to add. In the last battle of the recent war against Austria-Hungary we were able to assert the superior qualities of our battleships, also because bad weather made it impossible for enemy aircraft carriers to get their planes taking off.
However, ours remains a poor country. Despite the large investments made in research: when I left the Service, in 1956, we were still unable to make shipborne anti-aircraft missiles.
My co-workers and I did our best anyway.
I will conclude by thanking your Excellency for the decision to give my name to one of the new aircraft carriers which, I hope, will contribute in the future to uphold the name and honor of Spain.
May Spain live, may the King live!
Signed:
Admiral Alonso de Figueroa y Albuquerque
Editor's Notes.
What Admiral de Figueroa writes about the destroyers screen, so indispensable in night battles, corresponds to the bitter experience of the Italians at Matapan. After the abrupt reversal of the course of the 1st cruiser division, sent to the rescue of the torpedoed Pola, its destroyers were unable to resume the screen position.
Observation regarding the weather is also significant. In the operations in which the initiative is taken (eg: raids against the enemy coast) it is essential to be able to choose the date and time. The British were masters in this game. When they were able to do so, during the war in the Mediterranean, they chose to operate in conditions that disadvantaged the opposing aviation and navy.
Excellence!
After many years of hard work and battles, I am able to report on the events concerning our glorious Navy.
Ours is a poor country, burdened by the obligation to preserve the still extensive remains of the ancient Empire: Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, the Philippines and various Pacific islands. In particular, we can only keep a few gunboats and a few old cruisers down there. Our good administration, combined with the presence of the aforementioned warships, made it possible to avoid any internal problem.
For my further fortune, during the first years our Navy only had to face the challenges brought by Italy and Austria-Hungary, over which it easily got the better of.
Things changed around 1930, with the advent of a fascist dictatorship in Germany and with the incredible, incomprehensible attitude of France and the USA that both allied themselves with the so-called Fuehrer - and his Italian accomplice - to our detriment. Only our alliance with Great Britain and our glorious Fleet, which sacrificed itself to obtain a decisive victory over the French in defense of our possessions in Sardinia, made it possible to contain the damage.
In that hard war I learned many things. For example, how difficult it is for our captains to maintain an adequate destroyer screen after abrupt course reversals. I also learned how dangerous it is to operate against the enemy coast, without adequate air cover. Regarding this last point, I find it inadmissible that our General Staff imposes the date and time of these operations, without taking into account the advantages that could be obtained by exploiting the weather.
I have little to add. In the last battle of the recent war against Austria-Hungary we were able to assert the superior qualities of our battleships, also because bad weather made it impossible for enemy aircraft carriers to get their planes taking off.
However, ours remains a poor country. Despite the large investments made in research: when I left the Service, in 1956, we were still unable to make shipborne anti-aircraft missiles.
My co-workers and I did our best anyway.
I will conclude by thanking your Excellency for the decision to give my name to one of the new aircraft carriers which, I hope, will contribute in the future to uphold the name and honor of Spain.
May Spain live, may the King live!
Signed:
Admiral Alonso de Figueroa y Albuquerque
Editor's Notes.
What Admiral de Figueroa writes about the destroyers screen, so indispensable in night battles, corresponds to the bitter experience of the Italians at Matapan. After the abrupt reversal of the course of the 1st cruiser division, sent to the rescue of the torpedoed Pola, its destroyers were unable to resume the screen position.
Observation regarding the weather is also significant. In the operations in which the initiative is taken (eg: raids against the enemy coast) it is essential to be able to choose the date and time. The British were masters in this game. When they were able to do so, during the war in the Mediterranean, they chose to operate in conditions that disadvantaged the opposing aviation and navy.
