Francisco Moreno Fernández (7 November 1883 – 21 January 1945) was a Spanish Navy admiral who fought in the Rif War and later participated in the coup d'état in Spain against the Second Spanish Republic in July 1936 that triggered the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He fought on the Nationalist side during the war, rising to the rank of vicealmirante (vice admiral) in the Nationalist fleet and was both its commander-in-chief throughout the war and the commander of its Mediterranean Blockade Forces from 1937 to 1939. He later reached the rank of almirante (admiral). For his service, General Francisco Franco posthumously awarded him the title of 1st Marquis of Alborán on 1 April 1950.
Biography Early life and career Moreno was born in San Fernando in the Kingdom of Spain on 7 November 1883, the eldest child of Salvador Moreno y de Eliza — a Spanish Navy teniente de navío de 2ª clase (ship-of-the-line lieutenant second class) who later rose to the rank of vicealmirante (vice admiral) and was commander-in-chief of the Spanish Navy when he died in 1918 — and María Asunción Fernández y Antón.Real Academia de la Historia: Francisco Moreno Fernández. A few months after his birth, his father was transferred to duties in Ferrol, Spain, where Moreno grew up.
Naval career Kingdom of Spain 1898–1920 Moreno passed his naval entry exam and joined the Spanish Navy on 9 July 1898 at the age of 14. He attended the Colegio Naval Militar (Military Naval College) aboard the training hulk Asturias (formerly the screw frigate ) at Ferrol. After obtaining the rank of midshipman, he disembarked from Asturias on 7 February 1901, and on 25 February he boarded the armored cruiser remaining aboard for a few days before returning to Asturias. Two weeks later, he returned to and remained aboard her until 19 May 1901. He soon reported aboard the corvette , which was operating as a training ship, and made his mandatory training cruise aboard her, which took him to the Cantabrian Sea and Atlantic Ocean with stops at major ports in Africa and South America. After completing the cruise, he disembarked from Nautilus on 18 April 1902. His next assignment was the completion of his practical training aboard , and aboard her he steamed off the northern coast of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. While visiting the United Kingdom, he attended a fleet review at Spithead on 16 August 1902, held as part of the celebration of the coronation of King Edward VII a week earlier. He disembarked from on 8 February 1903 and completed his studies at the Colegio Naval Militar on 1 April 1903, graduating fourth in his class.
Commissioned upon graduation as an officer with the rank of alférez de fragata (frigate ensign, the lower of the Spanish Navy's two ensign ranks), he reported aboard the armored cruiser . He detached from her on 15 August 1903. In September 1903, he began a tour aboard the protected cruiser , and while aboard her he received a promotion to alférez de navío (ship-of-the-line ensign, the higher of the Spanish Navy's two ensign ranks) on 30 March 1904. Leaving Lepanto on 5 August 1905, he served as adjutant major of the Arsenal de Ferrol at Ferrol from 15 September until mid-November 1905, when he was transferred to the aviso Giralda, which at the time served as a royal yacht. He detached from Giralda on 18 May 1907 and served again as adjutant major of the Arsenal de Ferrol for just under two months. His next assignment was in the office of the chief of staff of the Naval Department of Ferrol, where he performed duty from 13 July 1907 to 10 August 1908.
Moreno next served aboard the gunboat , disembarking from her on 6 October 1909 for duty aboard the armored cruiser . He left Cataluña on 19 November 1909, then served aboard Nautilus until 21 November 1910. From 22 November until 1 December 1910 he fulfilled a brief assignment in the chief of staff's office of the Naval Department of Ferrol. On 2 January 1911 he began the hydrography course aboard the survey ship , embarking on her on 21 January and participating in a hydrographic survey cruise aboard her until 10 December 1911. He began a second surveying cruise aboard her on 17 December 1911, receiving notice during the cruise on 22 April 1912 of his promotion to teniente de navío (ship-of-the-line lieutenant). He qualified for his hydrographer's specialist insignia on 28 December 1912. He continued his work aboard Urania until 20 January 1913, when he disembarked and began temporary duties at the Arsenal de Ferrol. On 28 January 1913, he was assigned to the battleship . Initially he was part of the battleship's inspection commission, but on 8 September 1913 he became her navigation officer and electrical officer.
While Moreno was aboard España, World War I (1914–1918) broke out in the summer of 1914. Spain remained neutral during the conflict, but in the spring of 1917 the German Imperial Admiralty invited the Spanish minister of the navy to send several Spanish naval officers on an official visit to the German Empire. The minister selected four tenientes de navío (ship-of-the-line lieutenants) including Moreno, who spoke German, to serve as a "Commission of Experts" for the trip. Moreno temporarily detached from España, and he and the other three officers departed on 5 August 1917. They arrived in German-occupied Belgium, where they received a detailed tour of the naval base at Bruges and the port of Zeebrugge, including the coastal artillery defenses of Zeebrugge. They then made an overland journey to Germany, passing very close to the front lines on the in the town of Nieuwkerke, Belgium. In Germany, they toured the shipyard and naval base at Wilhelmshaven, where they boarded the battlecruiser and were received aboard her by the commander of the Imperial German Navy's I Scouting Group, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Franz von Hipper, who accompanied them on a visit to the light cruiser . Hipper parted company with them there, and they then boarded the battleship , flagship of the High Seas Fleet, where they visited the fleet's commander-in-chief, Admiral Reinhard Scheer. They then toured the facilities at the Alhornt Zeppelin base and the submarine and torpedo facilities at Kiel before boarding German destroyers, which performed various maneuvers and torpedo launches while the Spaniards looked on. They next traveled to Essen, where they visited several Krupp factories and observed the manufacture of artillery. Finally, they visited the German Supreme Headquarters at Bad Kreuznach to be received by the Chief of the General Staff, Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) Paul von Hindenburg, and the Chief of the Naval Staff, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Henning von Holtzendorff. They then returned to Spain, where they arrived on 19 September 1917. When they reached Spain, Moreno and his colleagues provided Minister of the Navy Manuel de Flórez y Carrió with a detailed report — including drawings — of what they had seen in Belgium and Germany. Impressed, Flórez presented them to King Alfonso XIII, who also was impressed with their thoroughness and ordered that they be given his royal thanks.
Moreno returned to España, serving aboard her until 9 February 1918, when he transferred to to observe the testing of the new "A/08" and "Blitz Leavitt" guns aboard her so that he could make a report on them. After completing the report, he returned to España on 2 March 1918, assuming duty as her navigation officer. On 12 August 1918 he received word that he had been given his first command, that of the torpedo boat , because of his expertise in torpedoes. He disembarked from España on 13 August and took command of No. 12, aboard which he provided torpedo instruction to midshipmen in the Training Squadron. In August 1920, he relinquished command of No. 12 to his brother, Salvador, and went on leave for two months, returning to duty on 24 October 1920.
1921–1936 Promoted to capitán de corbeta (corvette captain) on 11 January 1921, Moreno was assigned to duty as the second-in-command of the Northern Hydrographic Subcommission, based at Castro Urdiales on Spain's northern coast. His surveying work included triangulation between Tazones and Peñas and depth soundings between Deva and Peñas. To carry out a special commission ordered by the captain general of the Naval Department of Ferrol, he embarked on the destroyer from 26 September to 15 October 1921, then resumed his duties with the hydrographic subcommission.
Moreno concluded his work with the subcommission on 29 March 1922, then was a student at the naval gunnery school from 1 April to 10 August 1922. He received a diploma on 18 August 1922 for his outstanding performance as a student. He then reported aboard España to complete his practical training in gunnery and wrote a report for his superiors. He returned to the hydrographic subcommission at Santander on 1 September 1922 and conducted surveys between Cape La Peña and Cape San Lorenzo and along the Spanish coast off Gijón, Candás, Luanco, and Peñas. Completing this work, he left the commission again on 10 June 1923. He then served as gunnery officer and electrical officer aboard the battleship from 27 June 1923 to 12 June 1924.
As a capitán de corbeta (corvette captain), Moreno required a year of command at sea, so on 23 June 1924 he took command of the patrol boat . Under his command, Larache took part in combat against the Rifians along the coast of Spanish Morocco during the Rif War, spending 245 days at sea and firing 555 and 259 shells and 5,500 rifle rounds. She also encountered a fierce easterly storm that struck her on 18 November 1924 during a voyage from Ceuta on the coast of North Africa to Almería, Spain. Over the course of 76 hours, in hurricane-force winds and waves at least in height that broke over her bow and sometimes struck her superstructure, she experienced dangerous flooding that forced Moreno to order the protective plating stored below and all of her ammunition — weighing 2.5 tons — to be thrown overboard. The battleship and armored cruiser Cataluña attempted to come to her assistance, but the severe weather prevented them from reaching her. Nonetheless, she finally moored safely at Almería at 16:00 on 21 November 1924. Moreno received approximately 100 telegrams after arriving, one of which, from King Alfonso XIII, read "Congratulations. You gave me a hard time. Hugs, Alfonso."
On 27 June 1925, Moreno received an appointment as a professor at the newly created Naval War College in Madrid. Accordingly, he relinquished command of Larache on 21 August 1925 and made his way to Madrid, which he reached on 23 August. To achieve his certification as an instructor at the college, he first completed classroom work and then embarked on the destroyer from 1 July to 18 September 1926 for practical training. With that done, he returned to the college to receive his instructional certificate on 30 September 1926. He again embarked on Lazaga from 19 June to 18 September 1927. His tour at the college came to an end on 31 January 1928.