View source for Spanish cruiser Conde del Venadito

{{Short description|Velasco-class}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=conde de venadito.jpg
|Ship caption=''Conde de Venadito'' in 1895
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=Spain
|Ship flag=[[File:Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg|48px|Armada Española Ensign]]
|Ship name= ''Conde de Venadito''
|Ship namesake=[[Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, 1st Count of Venadito|Count of Venadito]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=Naval shipyard [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=1883
|Ship launched=15 August 1888
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=1888 or 1889
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=1907
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=Sunk as target 1936
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=(as built)
|Ship class={{sclass|Velasco|cruiser|0}} [[unprotected cruiser]]
|Ship displacement={{convert|1,190|LT|abbr=on}}
|Ship length={{convert|210|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draft={{convert|13|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} maximum
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship power={{convert|1,500|hp|kW|abbr=on}}; 4 [[Scotch marine boiler|cylindrical boilers]]
|Ship propulsion=1 shaft; 1 [[Marine steam engine#Compound engine|Compound-expansion steam engine]] 
|Ship sail plan=[[barque]]-rigged
|Ship speed={{convert|14|kn|km/h}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=173 officers and enlisted men
|Ship armament=*4 × [[Gonzalez Hontoria de 12 cm mod 1883|{{convert|4.7|in|mm|adj=on|0}}]] guns
*4 × [[QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt|6-pounder]] (57&nbsp;mm) guns
*1 × machine gun
*2 × {{convert|14|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[torpedo tube]]s
|Ship notes=Powered by {{convert|200|-|220|t|ST}} of coal (normal)
}}
|}
'''''Conde de Venadito''''' was a {{sclass|Velasco|cruiser|0}} [[unprotected cruiser]] of the [[Spanish Navy]]. It was built at the naval shipyard at [[Cartagena, Spain]], in 1883, and was completed and launched five years later. In 1895, she unsuccessfully attempted to sink the American merchant ship ''Allianca'' off [[Cape Maisi]], [[Cuba]], under the suspicion that she was smuggling arms to the Cuban insurgents.<ref name="Ches376" /> She was stricken from the register in 1907 and was finally sunk in 1936 as a target ship.<ref name="G429" />

==Construction and design==
''Conde de Venadito'' was built at the naval shipyard at [[Cartagena, Spain]]. Her [[keel]] was laid in 1883, she was launched on 15 August 1888, and she was completed in 1888 or 1889.<ref name="Escoben" /> The vessel [[displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{convert|1,190|LT|abbr=on}} of water and was {{convert|210|ft|m|abbr=on}} long ([[length between perpendiculars]]) with a {{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}} [[beam (nautical)|beam]], while still maintaining a [[draft (hull)|draft]] of {{convert|13|ft|8|in|abbr=on}}. She was powered by one-shaft, horizontal compound, [[Scotch marine boiler|four-cylindrical boilers]] (normally containing {{convert|200|-|220|t|ST}} of coal), which helped her reach a speed of {{convert|14|kn|km/h|lk=in}}. Her armament consisted of four [[Gonzalez Hontoria de 12 cm mod 1883|{{convert|4.7|in|mm|adj=on|0}}]] guns, four [[QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt|6-pounder]] (57&nbsp;mm) guns, one [[machine gun]] and two {{convert|14|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[torpedo tube]]s operated by a crew of 173 officers and enlisted men. She had one rather tall funnel, an iron hull and was rigged as a [[barque]].<ref name="Escoben">{{cite journal | title=Spanish cruiser Conde del Venadito | journal=Escobén |date=February 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Encyclopaedia of Ships and Shipping | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediash01masogoog | publisher=Shipping Encyclopaedia | author=Mason, Herbert B. | year=1908 | oclc=11857976}}</ref>

== Service history ==
She participated in the quadcentennial of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s discovery of the "New World". The royal family of the [[United Kingdom]] used the ship for the large reception. The Monday after the celebration (at 8 AM), when the ships of other nations were leaving, the ship with the royal family passed the line of ships as they waved goodbye.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Proceedings | author=Royal Geographical Society | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography | year=1892 | volume=14 | pages=855 | publisher=Edward Stanford |location=London, UK | issn=0266-626X}}</ref> During 1894, she was part of the "training and evolutionary" squadron of the Spanish navy, which was located off the cost of [[Cuba]], which was announced by the Spanish [[Minister of Marine]] earlier that year.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Naval and Military Notes | journal=R.U.S.I. Journal | year=1894 | volume=38 | issue=Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies | pages=780}}</ref>

=== ''Allianca'' incident ===
In March 1895, ''Conde de Venadito'' was involved in an incident with the American merchant ship ''Allianca'' off [[Cape Maisí]], [[Cuba]]. The Spanish ship attempted to stop ''Allianca'' for search on suspicion of [[Filibuster (military)|filibustering]], or smuggling arms to the insurgents in Cuba. The American ship failing to stop, the Spanish vessel fired several solid shots at the merchant ship during an unsuccessful chase of about {{convert|20|mi|km}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wisan|first=Joseph|title=The Cuban Crisis as Reflected in the New York Press|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcVnAAAAMAAJ|location=New York|publisher=Octagon Books|year=1965|isbn=9780374987022|accessdate=10 April 2015}}</ref> This touched off much sensational reporting in the American press and is credited by many with crystallizing anti-Spanish sentiment in the American public in the years preceding the [[Spanish–American War]].<ref name="Ches376">Chesneau & Eugene, p. 376.</ref>

===Spanish–American War===
In the Spanish–American War ''Conde del Venadito'' was first recorded at the port of [[Santiago de Cuba]] on 20 April.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sheep Set |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |author=U.S. Senate and House of Representatives |year=1900 |pages=886}}</ref> She first saw real action in the war when defending [[Havana]]. She first steamed out of the harbor alongside ''Nueva España'' on 14 May at 4:20 PM. She manovered in reaction to the U.S. [[gunboat]]s, while firing two shots {{convert|17|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the U.S. ships, which retreated to {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} from her. She and ''Nueva España'' retreated with ''Aguila'' and ''Flecha'' at dusk. At night, the U.S. vessels occupied the harbor. Whether the shots had any effect is not known, due to the distance from which they were fired.<ref name="NHSW">{{cite book |title=Naval History: Spanish War, 1898 |publisher=various places |year=1897–1905 |pages=69 |oclc=82022324}}</ref>

On 10 June at 8:30 AM, the ''Conde de Venadito'', ''Nueva España'', ''Flecha'', and the ''Yanéz Pinzon'', appeared {{convert|1|km|mi|abbr=on}} offshore, and soon fired at Battery No. 1. from {{convert|3.8|km|mi|abbr=on}}. The U.S. vessels started firing at the four ships from a distance of {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}}.  The fire was accurate at first, until the four Spanish boats backed up to {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the U.S. ships, and, at 1:30 PM, the U.S. ships entered the harbor.<ref>''Naval History'', p. 71.</ref>

===Fate===
She was stricken from the register in 1907. Her hull was later sunk as a [[target ship]] in 1936.<ref name="G429">Gray, p. 429.</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Eds. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905.'' New York: Mayflower Books Inc., 1979. {{ISBN|0-8317-0302-4}}.
* Gray, Randal, Ed. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. {{ISBN|0-87021-907-3}}.

== External links ==
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/spain/spsh-ag/c-venad.htm Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Spanish Navy Ships: ''Conde del Venadito'' (Cruiser, 1888–1902)]

{{Velasco class cruiser}}
{{1895 shipwrecks}}
{{1936 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conde Del Venadito}}
[[Category:Velasco-class cruisers]]
[[Category:Spanish–American War cruisers of Spain]]
[[Category:Ships built in Cartagena, Spain]]
[[Category:1888 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1895]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1936]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]