Proserpina was a of the Spanish Navy in commission from 1898 to 1931. The longest-serving ship of the class, she served during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the Second Melillan Campaign in 1909. She was equipped for minelaying around 1920.
Design
Construction and commissioning In April 1896, the Minister of the Navy, Vicealmirante (Vice Admiral) José María Beránger, presented a new naval program that included the construction of two additional s, larger than but with the same armament as the first two ships, and . The two additional destroyers became and . Spain then expanded its order to include another two Furor-class destroyers of the enlarged design, and these became and Proserpina, named respectively for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, and Proserpina, Pluto's wife and the goddess of spring. The three-funneled ships were, in the parlance of the day, "torpedo boat destroyers," designed to protect larger ships against torpedo boat attack and also carrying torpedoes with which to attack larger ships themselves.
The Spanish government signed the contract for the construction of Plutón and Proserpina with the shipyard of James and George Thomson on 1896. The Thomson shipyard at Clydebank, Scotland, in the United Kingdom laid the keel of Proserpina in late 1896 or early 1897. The company changed its name to the Clydebank Engineering & Shipbuilding Company in April 1897 and under this name launched her on 1897 and delivered her to the Spanish Navy on 1898.
The cost of construction of Plutón and Proserpina combined was about 4,800,000 pesetas. This was about 200,000 pesetas more than the contracted price. Although Plutón was delivered to the Spanish Navy on time, the construction of Audaz, Osado, and Proserpina experienced a delay of eight months. The Spanish government sued the shipyard in the British courts, which finally resulted in a judgment in February 1903 requiring Clydebank Engineering & Shipbuilding to pay the Spanish government 67,500 pounds in damages.
Service history Spanish-American War The United States Navy armored cruiser , often referred to as a "battleship," had sunk due to an explosion while anchored in the harbor at Havana, Cuba, on 1898, and by the time Osado completed her delivery voyage to Spain, anti-Spanish sentiment in the United States had grown to the point that Spain had begun to prepare for war between the two countries. Osado became part of the 2nd Torpedo Boat Squadron, which also included Audaz, Proserpina, and the torpedo boats , , and .
The United States declared war on Spain on 1898, stipulating that the declaration was retroactive to . Shortly thereafter, the Spanish Ministry of the Navy ordered warships — Proserpina among them — to concentrate at Cádiz to form the 2nd Squadron under the overall command of Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Manuel de la Cámara y Livermoore. One mission of the squadron, in the absence of any other direction, was to guard the Spanish coast against raids by the U.S. Navy. While Cámaras squadron lay idle at Cádiz, the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish Navy's Pacific Squadron under Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Patricio Montojo y Pasaron in the Philippine Islands in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1898, and the Spanish Navy's 1st Squadron, under Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Pascual Cervera y Topete became trapped in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba on the southeastern coast of Cuba on 1898, blockaded there by the U.S. Navy's Flying Squadron, reinforced by the North Atlantic Squadron on .
On 15 June 1898, Cámara finally received his orders: He was to depart immediately for the Philippines, escorting a convoy carrying 4,000 Spanish Army troops for reinforcement of the Philippines, and destroy Dewey's squadron there. His orders directed him to depart Cádiz with the battleship (Cámara′s flagship); the armored cruiser ; the auxiliary cruisers and ; a destroyer flotilla under the command of Capitán de navío (Ship-of-the-Line Captain) José Ferrándiz y Niño — a future vicealmirante (vice admiral) and minister of the navy — consisting of Audaz (Ferrándiz′s flagship), Osado, and Proserpina; the transports , , , and ; and four colliers carrying 20,000 tons of coal. He was to detach Alfonso XII and Antonio Lopez near Gibraltar after dark so that they could proceed to the Caribbean, then take the rest of his force to the Philippines via Gibraltar, Port Said, Suez, Socotra, the Laccadive Islands, and Ceylon. After that, he was told to coal either along the coast of Sumatra or in Singapore or Batavia, and then either make an optional stop at Labuan, Borneo, or proceed directly to Mindanao. Once in the Philippines, he was to disperse (to places such as Balabac, Jolo, Basilan, and Zamboanga) or concentrate his squadron as best he saw fit to ensure the safe arrival of the troops. Then he was to find and destroy Dewey's squadron.
Cámara sortied from Cádiz on 1898, passed Gibraltar on (first detaching Alfonso XII and Antonio Lopez for their independent voyages to the Caribbean), and arrived at Port Said on 26 June 1898. There he requested permission to transship coal. However, intelligence operatives in Spain had made the United States aware of Cámaras itinerary, and the U.S. acting vice consul to Egypt in Cairo, diplomat Ethelbert Watts, had acquired a lien on all coal available in Suez. Further complicating matters for Cámara, the British government, which effectively controlled Egypt at the time, informed him on 29 June that his squadron was not permitted to coal in Egyptian waters, on the grounds that it had enough coal to return to Spain and that any coaling activity it undertook in Egypt would violate Egyptian and British neutrality, and that he would have to return to sea within 24 hours. Cámara complied.
On 1898, Cámara received orders to send Audaz, Osado, and Proserpina back to Spain, and on the three destroyers detached from his squadron to begin their return voyage. They made a stop at Messina, Sicily, and arrived at Mahón on Menorca in the Balearic Islands on . Ordered to continue its own voyage, the remainder of Cámara's squadron passed through the Suez Canal on and reached the Red Sea, but also was recalled to Spain on to defend the Spanish coast after the annihilation of Cerveras squadron in the Caribbean in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on . Cámaras squadron returned to Spain on and was dissolved on 25 July 1898.
The Spanish–American War ended on 12 August 1898 without Cámara, Proserpina, or any of his other ships seeing combat. The Spanish Navy suffered heavy losses in the conflict, which resulted in the Spanish Empire losing control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.
1899–1931 During the second week of March 1902, Proserpina tested her engines off Cádiz in preparation for maneuvers with other ships of the Spanish fleet.
On the morning of 1906, Pelayo, the unprotected cruiser and the gunboat departed Cádiz, transporting a battalion of Spanish Marine Infantry to Tangier. Proserpina escorted them on the voyage.
While Proserpina was testing her engines off Cádiz in late December 1906 after she had undergone repairs at the shipyard at the Arsenal de La Carraca in San Fernando, a fire broke out in her boilers, forcing her to return to port and re-enter the shipyard for additional repairs. In May 1907, she made a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea with the Training Squadron, which also included Osado, the armored cruiser and the protected cruiser . The cruise's itinerary included several ports, including a stop at Barcelona on In June 1907, she took part in maneuvers off Vigo which also included Pelayo, Osado, and other ships. During July and August 1907, she made a cruise in the Bay of Biscay with the Training Squadron. On the afternoon of 1907, the squadron was at Bilbao for the arrival of the Spanish royal family aboard the royal yacht Giralda. With their crews formed up on deck, Proserpina, Pelayo, , and Osado fired salutes as Giralda arrived. The squadron returned to Ferrol during the first week of September.
On 1907, Proserpina and Osado got underway from Ferrol bound for Cádiz. Around that time, the Spanish Navy established a squadron made up of Proserpina, Audaz, Osado, and their sister ship Terror and gave it the responsibility for maintaining rapid communications between Cádiz and ports on the coast of North Africa.
The Ministry of the Navy renewed Proserpina′s assignment to the Training Squadron in 1908 along with Pelayo, , , Extremadura, Osado, the armored cruiser , and the protected cruiser Proserpina got underway from Cádiz on 1908 bound for Rabat on the coast of Morocco, where she replaced on station there.
The Second Melillan Campaign, which pitted Spanish forces against Riffian tribes in northern Morocco around Melilla, began in July 1909. On 1909, a violent uprising in Barcelona and other cities in Catalonia that became known as la Semana Trágica (the Tragic Week) broke out due to working-class discontent there over Prime Minister Antonio Maura′s call-up of reserve troops to serve in Morocco. On , Proserpina, Audaz, and Osado gathered at Barcelona, where the ship's crews joined troops of the Spanish Army in restoring order. On , the five ships put back to sea to patrol the Moroccan coast.
The Ministry of the Navy renewed Proserpina′s assignment to the Training Squadron in 1911 along with Audaz, Osado, Pelayo, and several cruisers. On the morning of 1913, Proserpina and Osado were among a number of ships that put to sea from San Sebastián to search Spain's northern coast for the survivors of shipwrecks following a severe storm in the Cantabrian Sea, but both destroyers returned to port without locating any ships in distress or survivors to rescue.
On 1913, Proserpina, Pelayo, Extremadura, Audaz, Osado, the dreadnought battleship , and the protected cruiser were at Cartagena during a meeting there between King Alfonso XIII and President of France Raymond Poincaré aboard Giralda. The entire squadron also attended the presentation ceremony for España′s battle flag on . After the ceremony, Proserpina, Pelayo, Extremadura, , Audaz, and Osado deployed to patrol the coast of Morocco. On 1913, Proserpina, Pelayo, Extremadura, and the gunboat guarded a British ship that had run aground off Ceuta to prevent attacks on it by Riffian forces.
Spain remained neutral during World War I (1914–1918), and the following years passed uneventfully for Proserpina. She underwent modernization in 1916, and around 1920 was equipped for minelaying. She spent long periods in reserve during her later years.
Disposal The longest-serving Furor-class destroyer, Proserpina was the last to be decommissioned when she was retired in May 1931. She was scrapped later that year.
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