The B-class submarines were a class of six submarines built for the Spanish Navy between 1917 and 1926, the first submarines built in Spain during the 20th century. They entered service between 1922 and 1926. All six served in the Spanish Republican Navy in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), during which two were lost. Francoist Spain took control of the survivors after the war, but none saw postwar operational service.

Description

The Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (SECN) built the B-class submarines to a Holland design under license from the Electric Boat Company between 1917 and 1926. One source describes their design as the Holland F105 design, a derivative of the successful Holland 903-L series, while another describes their design as the Holland F17 design. They were an enlarged and improved version of the Spanish submarine . Originally, the Spanish Navy planned to name them A-4 through A-9.

Sources disagree on the dimensions of the B-class submarines. One source states that they were 64.1 metres (210 ft 4 in) long overall and 62.5 metres (205 ft) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of , and a draft of ,, while another cites their length as , their beam as , and their draft as . Sources describe their displacement differently, one claiming it was on the surface and submerged while another asserts that it was on the surface and submerged.

Two New London Ship and Engine Company (NELSECO) diesel engines driving two screws gave the B-class submarines a top speed on the surface of or , according to different sources. Their two or electric motors (according to different sources) gave them a maximum submerged speed of either . or , also according to different sources. One source states that on the surface the submarines had a range of at and at , while according to another their surface range was at . Submerged, their range was at and at according to once source, or at according to another.

Each B-class submarine had four torpedo tubes — two in the bow and two in the stern — and carried eight Whitehead torpedoes. One source states that they had torpedo tubes, another that they had torpedo tubes. They also had a deck gun.

When commissioned, the B-class submarines had a crew of 28. By order of the Ministry of the Navy on 1934, their crew size increased to 34. They had a diving depth of .

Service

The B-class submarines entered service in the Spanish Navy between 1922 and 1926. They served under the Kingdom of Spain until 1931, with the first two seeing action in the Rif War in 1922. From 1931 they served under the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Republican Navy.

The Spanish Civil War broke out on 17 July 1936, and all six of the submarines remained under the control of the Republican faction during the conflict. B-6 was lost in action with Nationalist warships in 1936, and B-3 sustained serious damage in a collision that year and was decommissioned. B-5 disappeared during a patrol in 1937. Francoist Spain took control of B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-4 at the end of the war in 1939. Only B-1 and B-2 were ever in commission in the postwar Spanish Navy; and apparently none ever were seaworthy again after the war. All of the surviving B-class submarines were disposed of during the 1940s except B-2, which survived until 1951.

Submarines of the class SOURCES:

The six submarines of the B class were:

Ship name Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate SECN,Cartagena,Spain 2 June 1921 11 January 1922 21 October 1941 Sunk as target 1949 24 August 1917 10 October 1921 1 June 1922 5 April 1951 Hulked June 1940; Sank under tow 21 January 1920 17 March 1922 24 August 1922 8 June 1940 Scrapped 1940 9 May 1920 31 October 1922 28 May 1923 31 July 1941 Scrapped 13 January 1921 4 April 1925 Missing mid-October 1936 21 January 1926 Sunk 19 September 1936

See also List of historic Spanish Navy ships List of submarines of the Spanish Navy

References Citations

Bibliography ABC (newspaper, in Spanish)

La Vanguardia newspaper (in Spanish)