Velasco was a Spanish Navy in commission from 1924 to 1957. She served in the Rif War in 1925 and fought on the Nationalist side during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. While in commission, she served the Kingdom of Spain from 1924 to 1931, the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the civil war's Nationalist faction from 1936 to 1939, and the Francoist Spanish State from 1936 to 1957.
Design and characteristics The Alsedo class was designed jointly by the British companies Vickers and John Brown & Co. The Alsedo class was of similar layout to the Hawthorn Leslie variant of the British M-class destroyer.
The ships were long overall and , with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was standard and full load. They were propelled by two geared steam turbines driving two shafts and fed by four Yarrow boilers and had a distinctive four-funneled silhouette. The ships a design speed of . They were the first Spanish Navy ships to use only fuel oiil and could carry of oil, giving them a range of at . The ships had a crew of 86.
The Alesdo-class ships were armed with three Vickers guns manufactured under license in Spain and mounted in three single mounts, with one forward, one aft, and one between the second and third funnels, as well as two anti-aircraft guns, identified by different sources as either 47-millimetre or 2-pounder (40 mm) guns. The anti-aircraft guns later were replaced by four 20 mm autocannons. Four torpedo tubes were mounted in twin banks, and the Alsedo class ships were the first Spanish destroyers to carry torpedoes of that size. The ships were fitted with two depth charge throwers sometime around 1945. A rangefinder was mounted on each ship's bridge.
By the time the Alsedo class entered service in the mid-1920s, destroyer design had advanced and made them obsolete. The Spanish Navy therefore cancelled plans to build three more ships of the class and instead next constructed the more modern and much larger s. Nonetheless, the Alsedo class had active and lengthy careers.
Construction and commissioning The Spanish Cortes (Parliament) passed a navy law on 17 February 1915 authorizing a large program of construction for the Spanish Navy, including three s to be built in Spain at the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (SECN) shipyard at Cartagena. SECN was part of the same British consortium that included the ship's designers, Vickers and John Brown & Co.
World War I (1914–1918) caused shortages of materials and equipment sourced from the United Kingdom and delayed construction of the Alsedo class, and Velasco′s keel was not laid at the SECN shipyard until 6 July 1920. She was launched on 16 June 1923 and delivered to the Spanish Navy on 27 December 1924.
Service history Kingdom of Spain 1924–1927 Velasco and the light cruiser Reina Victoria Eugenia visited Lisbon, Portugal, in January 1925 for the celebration of the fourth centenary of Vasco da Gama. After refueling at Almería, Spain, on 19 March 1925, she proceeded to the coast of Africa. In mid-July 1925 she got underway from Ceuta on the coast of North Africa with her sister ship and the light cruisers and bound for Ferrol on the coast of Galicia. They then continued on to Santander, where King Alfonso XIII received them when they arrived on 27 July 1925. With the two light cruisers and the Royal Family present, Velasco and Alsedo each received a battle ensign acquired by popular subscription in Santander on 3 August 1925. On the afternoon of 19 August 1925, Velasco got underway from Santander to conduct engine tests with Alfonso XIII on board. She anchored in the Bay of La Concha two hours later, then returned to Santander the same day.
Assigned to the Training Squadron along with Alsedo, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, and the battleships and , Velasco deployed for service in the Rif War. She took part in the Alhucemas landing at Alhucemas in Spanish Morocco on 9 September 1925. Velasco and Alsedo both suffered damage in a collision with the gunboat on 12 September. Velasco put into port for repairs which were completed in six days, then returned to the area of operations off Spanish Morocco.
On 25 February 1926, Velasco arrived at Barcelona. All three Alsedo-class destroyers made several cruises during 1926 with students from the Escuela de Guerra Naval (Naval War College) aboard, calling at various ports in Italy in the Mediterranean Sea and Adriatic Sea, as well as Istanbul and other ports. On 20 May 1926, she departed Cartagena with the Training Squadron for exercises in the Mediterranean off Mazarrón with Alfonso XIII, Jaime I, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, and her sister ship . After a new commanding officer reported aboard Velasco on 16 July 1926, she left Mahón on Menorca in the Balearic Islands in company with Alsedo, Lazaga, and the torpedo boats , , , and on 18 July to conduct maneuvers with naval aviation aircraft off Catalonia.
On 20 June 1927, the three Alsedo-class destroyers got underway from Cartagena to begin a training cruise in the Mediterranean Sea for Naval War College students that lasted almost a month. They conducted tactical exercises with the torpedo boats , T-5, , and T-19, the submarine division based at Mahón, and seaplanes based at Barcelona. After parting company with the torpedo boats, the three destroyers made foreign port visits at Palermo in Sicily, and Ajaccio in Sardinia. They arrived at Patras, Greece, on 27 July 1927, where on 28 July they participated in a ceremony at the site of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. They next stopped at Piraeus, Greece, and transited the Turkish Straits into the Black Sea to call at Varna, Bulgaria,and Constanta, Romania. They returned through the straits to the Aegean Sea to visit Rhodes in the Italian Dodecanese and called at Haifa in Mandatory Palestine, Crete, Malta, Tunis, Bizerte, and Algiers before returning to Cartagena on 18 September 1927.
In May 1928, the three Alsedo-class destroyers departed Cartagena and called at Ceuta and Cádiz before arriving at Marín, where they conducted gunnery exercises. They visited Portsmouth, England, from 1928 for Cowes Week. They also visited other ports in France and the United Kingdom during a training cruise with Naval War College students aboard. During October and November 1928, the three Alsedo-class destroyers were part of a squadron that also included Alfonso XIII, Jaime I, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, the light cruiser , the destroyer , the submarines , , , , , , , , and , the torpedo boats , , T-14, T-15, , and , the seaplane carrier , and the tug Cíclope that conducted exercises in the Balearic Islands and off Spain's Mediterranean coast. After their conclusion, the squadron made port at Barcelona on The squadron began to disband and depart Barcelona on 20 November 1928.
1929–1931 Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, and the three Alsedo-class destroyers called at Cádiz on 5 March 1929, but soon put back to sea for exercises in the Cíes Islands off Galicia with Alfonso XIII, Jaime I, and Almirante Cervera. The three destroyers anchored at Vigo on the night of and reached Cádiz on 9 April. As part of a destroyer squadron that also included Sánchez Barcáiztegui, they arrived at Barcelona on 18 May 1929 along with a number of other Spanish Navy ships — including Dédalo, two battleships, five cruisers, nine submarines, two torpedo boats, and other smaller and auxiliary vessels — for the opening of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition on 19 May. The four destroyers got underway from Barcelona at 16:30 on 25 May 1929 and proceeded to Cartagena.
The four destroyers reached Ferrol to refuel on 19 June 1929, with plans to stay until 22 June before proceeding to Santander. However, the Dornier Do J Wal flying boat of Ramón Franco crashed into the sea during an attempted transatlantic flight, and they were ordered to instead steam to the Azores to join the search for the plane and its crew. They departed at the end of June. The British Royal Navy aircraft carrier rescued Franco and his crew, and the four destroyers returned to Ferrol during the first week of July 1929. Leaving Ferrol early on the morning of 8 July, they reached Santander on the night of 9 July. After Sánchez Barcáiztegui embarked Naval War College students, the four destroyers put to sea with a squadron of torpedo boats for exercises.
The four destroyers were among Spanish Navy ships that began to arrive at on Mallorca in the Balearic Islands on the afternoon of 26 September 1929 for maneuvers in the waters of the islands. Almirante Cervera, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, the light cruiser and the destroyer also took part in the exercises, which concluded in early October 1929. The ships left on 5 October 1929.
While the rest of the ships proceeded to Valencia, Velasco, Alsedo, Lazaga, Sánchez Barcáiztegui, and the destroyer anchored at Barcelona on the evening of 6 October 1929. King Alfonso XIII arrived at Barcelona the same evening and boarded the motor ship Infanta Isabel to inspect the squadron. After the king's visit, the ships steamed southward to resume the maneuvers. On 16 October, part of the squadron returned to Barcelona for a stay of about ten days to rest the crews, repair damage, and take on supplies. First the destroyer led the torpedo boats into the harbor; Velasco, Almirante Ferrándiz, Alsedo, José Luis Díez, Lazaga. and Sánchez Barcáiztegui, and the destroyer followed, and then the two battleships, the four cruisers, the submarines, and other smaller vessels entered port. After the Barcelona visit, the destroyer squadron proceeded to Cartagena along with several of the other ships, arriving in late October 1929. After a new commanding officer reported aboard, Velasco got back underway and steamed to Galicia.
During the second half of March 1930, Velasco, Alsedo, Almirante Ferrándiz José Luis Díez, Lázaga, and Sánchez Barcáiztegui departed Cartagena and stopped at Cádiz, where on the morning of 28 March 1930 José Luis Díez was presented with a battle ensign at the Arsenal de La Carraca in San Fernando. They then proceeded to Marín, where two battleships and two cruisers joined them. The ships began gunnery exercises at the Janer training ground in April 1930. Once the gunnery exercises ended, the squadron remained in Galician waters and carried out various maneuvers, most of them in the estuary at Pontevedra. Upon their completion, the squadron returned to Ferrol on 30 June 1930. The destroyer squadron called at El Musel at Gijón for several days in August 1930, them steamed to Santander and Bilbao.
On 27 September 1930, the three Alsedo-class destroyers assembled at Cádiz with Alfonso XIII, Jaime I, Almirante Cervera, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, Príncipe Alfonso, Reina Victoria Eugenia, Almirante Ferrándiz, José Luis Díez, and Sánchez Barcáiztegui to begin a Mediterranean training cruise. The ships visited Almería and Cartagena before arriving at Alicante in mid-December 1930. Leaving the battleships at Cartagena for boiler repairs, the other ships steamed to Ferrol in January 1931.
Second Spanish Republic 1931–1932 After King Alonso XIII was deposed, the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931. The three Alsedo-class destroyers got underway from Barcelona with José Luis Díez and Sánchez Barcáiztegui and called at Cádiz from . On the evening of 27 May 1931, the battleships España (ex-Alfonso XIII, renamed by the new government) and Jaime I, the light cruisers Almirante Cervera, , Méndez Núñez, República (ex-Reina Victoria Eugenia, renamed by the new government), and a destroyer squadron composed of Velasco, Almirante Ferrándiz, Lazaga, Lepanto, and Sánchez Barcáiztegui arrived at Ferrol, where they took part along with the seaplne carrier Dédalo and a submarine division in a naval review in the presence of the Minister of the Navy, the captain general of the Maritime Department of the North, and the commander of the squadron.