Spanish destroyer Almirante Antequera

History
Spain
Name:	Almirante Antequera
Namesake:	Juan Bautista Antequera y Bobadilla
Builder:	S.E.C.N in Cartagena
Launched:	29 December 1930
Commissioned:	1935
Fate:	Scrapped 8 october 1965
General characteristics
Class and type:	Churruca-class
Displacement:	1536 tons
Length:	101 m (331.36 ft)
Beam:	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft:	3.3 m (10.83 ft)
Installed power:	42,000 shp (31,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × Parsons turbines; 4 × Yarrow boilers ; 2 × screws;
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	4,500 nmi (5,200 mi; 8,300 km) @ 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Armament:	4 × 120 mm L.45 Vickers cannon; 1 × 76.2 mm A.A cannon; 4 × machine guns; 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes; 2 × depth charge racks;

Almirante Antequera (AA) was a 2nd series Churruca-class destroyer that fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and, after the war, joined the post-war Spanish Navy. She was named after Juan Bautista Antequera y Bobadilla, a vice admiral and Spanish Minister of the Navy.

Spanish Civil War

At the start of the conflict, Almirante Antequera was in Santander. She sailed to Málaga on 19 July 1936, arriving on 21 July. After a patrol mission, some of her officers who sided with the rebels turned themselves in to the Republican authorities. During the war, she patrolled the area around the Strait of Gibraltar. She also participated in the landings at Ibiza and in the failed Invasion of Majorca, as well as in the Battle of Cape Cherchell, while under the command of Captain Alberto Bayo.

On 17 September 1937, Almirante Antequera along with the destroyers Gravina, Sánchez Barcáiztegui and Escaño, the latter damaged by aerial bombing, engaged the Nationalist heavy cruiser Canarias, which scored a hit on Sánchez Barcáiztegui.[1] She also took part in the Battle of Cape Palos, firing five torpedoes at the enemy cruisers and contributing to the sinking of the Nationalist heavy cruiser Baleares.

On 5 March 1939, she left Cartagena along with most of the Republican fleet following the uprising in the city, reaching Bizerta on 11 March. The next day, the crews solicited political asylum in Tunisia. Most of the ship's crews were interned, with a few Spaniards left to guard the ships. The rest were transported to a concentration camp in Meheri Zabbens.[2] [3]

After the Civil War

On 2 April, merely 24 hours after the war concluded, Almirante Antequera and the other ships that left Cartagena sailed to Cádiz, arriving in the last hours of 5 April. She was scrapped on 8 October 1965.

References

Alpert, Michael (1987). La Guerra Civil Española en el mar. Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-8432-975-6.
Vigara, José Miguel. "The daughter of a Republican officer compiles the story of a thousand exiled sailors". Levante.
Alonso González, Bruno (2006). La flota republicana y la Guerra Civil de España. Spain: Ediciones Espuela de plata. ISBN 84-96133-75-3.

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[1] Alpert, Michael (1987). La Guerra Civil Española en el mar. Barcelona. ISBN 978-84-8432-975-6.

[2] Vigara, José Miguel. "The daughter of a Republican officer compiles the story of a thousand exiled sailors". Levante.

[3] Alonso González, Bruno (2006). La flota republicana y la Guerra Civil de España. Spain: Ediciones Espuela de plata. ISBN 84-96133-75-3.