VILLA DE MADRID frigate 1863

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aukepalmhof
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VILLA DE MADRID frigate 1863

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Nov 21, 2017 7:08 pm

Built as a wooden screw frigate by Arsenal de la Carraca (Cadiz) for the Spanish Navy.
30 September 1860 ordered
03 November 1860 keel laid down, as the NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA
07 October 1862 launched one of the Unica Class.
Displacement 4,478 ton. Dim. 87.05 x 15.42 x 7.84m., draught 7.40m.
Powered by two steam engines manufactured by Penn & Son. 3,200 hp, one shaft, speed 15 knots.
Bunker capacity 720 ton coal.
Armament 30 – 200mm, 14 – 160mm guns. 2 howitzers and 2 – 80mm guns.
Crew 617.
12 November 1863 completed as VILLA DE MADRID.

The wooden hulled steam screw frigate VILLA DE MADRID was built for the Spanish Navy .It received its name in honour of the uprising of the people of Madrid against the French invaders on 02 May 1808, her name she was ordered under was, NUESTRA SEÑORA DE ATOCHA following the custom of the ships of the Spanish Navy of the time, those ships with a non-religious name, they had to carry another one that was religious.

The ship
Its construction was ordered by Royal Order of 30 September 1860 and began in the Arsenal de la Carraca (Cádiz) on 03 November of the same year. It was launched in the presence of Queen Isabel II with the name of NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA on 07 October 1862, after a failed first attempt two days before.
Between 17 March 1863 and 15 July 1863 the machinery was installed and her hull copper sheated.
06 November 1863 underwent sea trials
Her figurehead, was the municipal coat of arms of Madrid, with the bear and the strawberry tree.
Building cost was 5,636,975 pesetas.
History
On 12 November 1863, she entered service, and her first mission was to take a battalion of Marine Infantry to Havana, after which she returned to Cádiz.
On 06 September 1864, she sailed from Cádiz to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she joined the screw frigates BLANCA and BERENGUELA, with which she passed the Strait of Magellan and joined in December of the same year Admiral José Manuel's Squadron at the Chincha Islands, Chile.
Under the command of Captain Claudio Alvargonzález Sánchez, she participated with the squadron of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez in the Battle of Abtao, the bombardment of Valparaíso and in the Battle of Callao, where she had 27 casualties.
She returned to Cádiz on 04 November 1866, with a jubilant welcome from the authorities and the town people.
It remained anchored in Civitavecchia during the assault on Rome by Garibaldi, in case the Pope was forced to flee he could board her, when not more needed she returned to Cartagena at the end of 1867.
He transported the Infanta Doña Isabel, her husband the count of Girgenti and his brothers, refugees in Spain since 1861, back to Italy, in the spring of 1868.
In July of 1868 she took the Duke of Montpensier and his family to exile to Lisbon, where she arrived on 03 August 1868.
She then went to San Sebastian, and anchored in Cadiz at the end of August 1868 where she was rearmed with 20 smoothbore guns of 200 mm in batteries, and 10 guns of 160 mm.
She participated in the Revolution in Spain of September of 1868, being a unit of the insurrectionary ships in Cádiz. On 25 September 1868, she sailed from Cádiz to visit Algeciras, Ceuta, Málaga, Cartagena, Valencia and Barcelona.
She later joined the Mediterranean Squadron under the command of the Commodore of the Antequera Navy. At this time, it remained anchored in Santa Pola.
In 1870, forming a squadron with NUMANCIA and VITORIA under the command of Rear Admiral Rafael Rodríguez de Arias , she went to Italy to pick up the new monarch Amadeo I. On the outward journey she raised the royal standard without a king on board. It was the first and only time in the history of Spain that this has happened.
On 30 July 1873 she joined the Canton of Cartagena and was abandoned by most of her crew to enjoy the permits granted by the cantonalists. His machine was broken down, so he did not participate in the Arsenal defense against Admiral Lobo's centralist squadron.
From 1879 to 1884 the date on which she appeared as disarmed, she served in the Training Squadron, being discharged in 1884 and scrapped the same year.
Curiosities
One of her anchors remained as a monument in the Buen Retiro Park in Madrid.

Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_de_Madrid_(buque)
Chile 2017 label.
Attachments
bombardament of Valparaiso + painting.jpg
2017 Chile (2).jpg

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