Information on Spanish Fleet 1919-1936

[C.Z.A.R.]

The Spanish Navy in the interwar years is notably underdocumented. During my research into this period, I found scarce mentions of proposals by Spanish and even British admirals to revitalize the Spanish Fleet. Furthermore, several books give a passing comment on a Spanish Battlecruiser project by Vickers. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find anything elaborating on this in English. Is this true? Are there any more underdocumented elements of the Spanish interwar navy?

CZAR.

[Ironmachine]

The Spanish Navy in the intewar years is notably underdocumented only if you talk about sources in English.
Between 1919 and 1936 there were different plans of naval constructions, but most of them came to nothing. I will provide more information tomorrow, as it's now to late for me to search my Spanish sources.

[Ironmachine]

For that historical period, we have the Cortina Law, Admiral Cornejo's plan, Admiral Carvia's plan, Giral's plan, Rocha García's plan, Abad Conde's plan, Royo Villanova's plan and Admiral Azarola's plan.
The Cortina Law was simply a continuation of a previous plan (that of Admiral Miranda), providing more money and giving more time to finish some of the ships of that previous plan.
Cornejo's and Carvia's plans were made during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship.
The rest were plans approved during the II Republic.

[Ironmachine]

Admiral Cornejo's plan from 1926 projected the construction of 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers (Churruca class), 12 submarines and a number of lesser ships (oilers, coast guard ships, mine warfare ships...). It finally resulted in the construction of the cruisers Baleares and Canarias, hurrily finished after the beginning of the SCW. The third cruiser was cancelled and the money used to build five more Churruca-class destroyers. No submarines of this plan were ever built.
Admiral's Carvia's plan of 1929 was much more ambitious. The planned ships were 4 battleships with 305mm guns, 2 aircraft carriers with an air wing of 30 planes each, 2 light cruisers, 4 big destroyers (leaders), 18 destroyers, 12 fleet submarines, 34 coastal submarines, 4 big and 8 small mine warfare submarines, and many smaller and auxiliary vessels. The plan was intended to be finished in 14 years. With the fall of Primo de Rivera and the proclamation of the II Republic, the plane came to nothing.

[Ironmachine]

Giral's plan, the first of the II Republic, included only one ship, the D-1 submarine, The construction was approved in 1932 and the submarined did not enter service until 1947 (yes, the date is correct!) when its military value was zero (not even considering that when the Navy received it, many dangerous deficencies that made the ship unsafe were found).
Rocha García's plan of 1934 included an oiler, two mine warfare ships, two submarines (sister ships of the D-1) and one hydrographic ship. The mine ships were the Júpiter and the Vulcano, finished with the SCW already started. The submarines were finished in 1951 and 1954 respectively, and were as bad as their sister ship.
Abad Conde's plan of 1935 was intended to provide light ships to operate in the Mediterranean, mainly protecting the Balearic islands: 12 small submarines, 12 torpedo boats (small destroyers) were the main ships planned. The plan was never approved.
Royo Villanova's plan was limited to two sister ships of the Júpiter: Marte y Neptuno.
Admiral Azarola's plan of January 1936, the last one before the SCW, included two destroyers (with a design based on the Churruca but improved), two gunships, and some auxiliary ships. The beginning of the SCW stopped the work on those ships. The gunships were the Eolo and the Tritón, finished in 1941 and 1943 respectively; the destroyers were the Liniers and the Álava, that joined the Spanish Navy in 1915 and 1952 respectively.

[Ironmachine]

As for battlecruisers, the only mention I can found is from a plan made by the government in 1921 that called for 4 battlecuisers among other warships. However, the plan was not sent to the Parliament, so it was never officially sanctioned; it was only a project.
It could be that Vickers knew of the plan and had the desing ready for when the project was finally approved, or perhaps the Spanish goverment asked for some designs as to chose one before the project was sent to the Partiament for approval (which, as I mentioned before, it wasn't). Or perhaps Vickers simply offered the design to see if there was any Spanish interest in such a ship.

[C.Z.A.R.]

Thank you so very much! Are there any digitized books/sources (Spanish or English) that detail this in detail?

CZAR.

[Ironmachine]

A good book on that matter is Vicisitudes de una política naval: antecedentes : desarrollo de la Armada entre 1898 y 1936 by Fernando de Bordejé y Morencos. AFAIK it is only available in Spanish but unfortunately I don't think there is a digitized version. However, it is easy to find a second-hand one at low price, at least in Spain.
Regards