The Ship Model Forum

In case any fans missed the post on the main forum upcomming resin releases page Seed Hobby are to release a 1/700 Canarias. Hobby easy has it up for preorder

https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/data/kjjllredwsrn1oormddx.html

Looks like a decent model albiet rather PE heavy. With shields around the secondaries and 6 twin AA looks like a 1940s fit. Hope it does well and raises awareness of these rather wonderful ships.

Thank you very much! I have a model of Canarias started.

Interesting reading and informations.. thx for shareing..

Impressive documentation work Willie.
Im really eager to see the actual modelling process. Knowing your skills I´m sure it will be a most inspiring experience!

Best regards!

¡Un fuerte abrazo amigo!

[size=150][b]The honor[/b].

And always preserving honor: the flag cruiser [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] served for almost five decades:
[attachment=0](111) Battle ensign.jpg[/attachment]
[i]Sic transit gloria mundi[/i]. After serving with distinction in one of the most difficult moments of our country, and many years afterwards, the heavy cruisers [b][i]Canarias[/i][/b] and [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] are gone.

They were key elements in my love for the navies and warships of all kinds; I drew their lines in the back covers of my school notebooks; my father used to tell me the last night of Baleares when I was a kid and already in bed before kissing me good night; they were the first models that I ever built, first with Lego and later with scraps of wood.

What beautiful cruisers...

Long live [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] and [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] !!!! [/size]

[size=150][b]The legacy[/b].

But the legacy went on. [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] gave her name to a new frigate class, the first of the batch being named [i][b]Baleares F71[/b][/i] herself :
[attachment=1](109) Baleares Vigo 1994 (987).jpg[/attachment]
And [i][b]Canarias F86[/b][/i] is also the name of the last ship of our [i][b]OHP[/b][/i] frigates batch, here in the Mediterranean, sailing the waters where her namesake won most of her battle honors:
[attachment=0](110) Canarias 26-03-09.JPG[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]The aftermath[/b].

In spite of so much History, very few pieces of [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] have survived: the name plate at Navy Museum, Ferrol:
[attachment=2](106).jpg[/attachment]
One of her main turrets has also been preserved as a monument at the [i][b]Escuela Naval Militar[/b][/i], the Spanish Naval Academy, in Marín, very close to my town.
[attachment=1](107).jpg[/attachment]
And as far as I know, the last piece is a 120 mm. a/a gun that is preserved in a public park is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where else:
[attachment=0](108).jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]Decommissioning[/b].

But time goes by so slowly, and time can do so much.

By the mid 1970´s [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] was well beyond her life expectancy, and her capabilities were not worth the money that she was costing. Other than this, the new American [i][b]Gearing [/b][/i]destroyers freshly come to our Navy, and the construction of the new [i][b]Baleares/Knox[/b][/i] missile frigates, a huge step ahead in our Navy, made [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] redundant at all effects, and the decision was taken to decommission her, always a sad moment.

This was [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] on July 2nd. 1975 at Cádiz, about to begin her last outing:
[attachment=5](100).jpg[/attachment]
And here her last crew. What a different feeling when comparing this picture with that of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] crew:
[attachment=4](101).jpg[/attachment]
And at last, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] entering Ferrol Bay for the last time on July 4th. 1975, being welcome by all kinds of ships:
[attachment=3](102).JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=2](103).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1](104).jpg[/attachment]
And here she is getting into Ferrol Arsenal docks, ready for mooring alongside, again for the last time as a fighting unit. In the background, [i][b]Empresa Nacional Bazán[/b][/i] shipyard, the former [i][b]SECN[/b][/i], where she had been built a lifetime ago…
[attachment=0](105).JPG[/attachment]
After this last trip, she was decommissioned on December 17th..

A plan was considered to preserve the ship as a floating museum, but the idea did not succeed. It has happened with many other historical warships of many other navies before (think of [i][b]Yavuz[/b][/i] !!!!) so, sadly, why should it have been different with [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i].

Eventually, she was auctioned and sold for scrap on September 14th. 1977.

And then [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] was gone…
[/size]

[size=150][b]Refittings[/b].

Saved from a conversion that from the very beginning showed little options for success, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] entered the yards at El Ferrol for a major refit in October 1952 .

The most noticeable change of this refit is that the broad double funnel was replaced by twin vertical stacks, a return to the original plan. The fore part of the conning bridge became enclosed and its wings extended.
The recently built foremast received a navigational radar antenna installed on the crosstree, but fire control remained nevertheless visually directed, and therefore very limited in the prevalent naval warfare conditions.

This was the section that experienced the bulk of the reconstruction.
[attachment=8](92) 1953.jpg[/attachment]
The after 4 pairs of German 37mm a/a guns gave way to 4 single 40´s. These were 40mm 70 cal. Bofors L-70 mounts built in Spain under license. Their elevation was -10° to 90°, their muzzle velocity 1,000m/sec, and rate of fire 240 rounds/min. Magazine capacity reportedly reached 12,000 rounds, but the lack of electronic fire director made all this array of some obsolescent weaponry virtually useless for modern warfare.

This change produced the final array of armament that would serve [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] for the rest of her career: 8-203mm (8in.) guns paired in 4 turrets, 8-120mm (4.7in.) DP guns in single shielded mounts , 4-40mm a/a guns in single open mounts, 4-37mm a/a guns in double open mounts, 2-20mm a/a guns and 2-DCTs in stern racks.

[i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] emerged renewed in February 1953, and this was therefore her new looking from then on, a very unusual step back to the original design:
[attachment=7](93).JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=6](94).jpg[/attachment]
The hope to mount an aircraft catapult, so long postponed, and by now the victim of radar and unhappy WWII experience with the flammability of shipboard aircraft, was finally dropped as obsolete, waiting for a fleet carrier.

By the end of the 1950s, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] received a sturdy tripod foremast fitted to carry a suite of radar and other antennas.
[attachment=5](95).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=4](96).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=3](96b).jpg[/attachment]
A few years later she added a light bipod support to the mainmast for yet another radar antenna.
But all this was to be temporary, for in the 1960´s the Spanish Navy planned to make up for a belated entry into the electronic age with a thorough modernization of the flagship.

Preliminary plans called for guided Terrier SAM missile armament, as other nations were doing with gun cruisers, and U.S. semi-auto 127 mm turrets were received and stored at Ferrol, scheduled to take place of the 120 mm. But despite the soundness of her hull and machinery, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] was clearly an obsolescent vessel, and the plan was eventually dropped as not practicable. The Spanish Navy turned to the refitting of other existing units and the purchase the first five American [i][b]Fletcher[/b][/i] class destroyers, followed later by the 5 [i][b]Gearing[/b][/i] class units, that could perform almost any mission more efficiently and more cheaply.

Eventually the 127mm. turrets bought from the US Navy were fitted on the Spanish construction, cold war destroyers [i][b]Roger de Lauria[/b][/i] and [i][b]Marqués de la Ensenada[/b][/i].

As for [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] herself, a limited modernization was completed in 1969 instead. A roomy CIC was built half way aft of the bridge structure, complemented by an enlarged, covered conning bridge. A larger radar shack was fitted aft, and whip antennas were added to the stacks and bridge. Radars included a Decca 12 navigation set, a U.S. SG-6B surface search, and an Italian Marconi MLA-IB air search. Later she added a Marconi surface search as well.

So, this was the conning bridge alter her last refit:
[attachment=2](97).jpg[/attachment]
And this was her last and (IMHO) attractive look for the rest of her active life. Notice the two tripod masts, the radars, the new CIC, the enlarged bridge, the whip antennas everywhere:
[attachment=1](98).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0](99).JPG[/attachment]
Unnecessary to say, her weaponry could have but a minor function in any conflict, but still being the Navy flagship, she was now more suitable as a command ship for modern operations.
[/size]

[size=150]The end of the SCW --with units lost forever, and virtually every ship refitting or repairing-- was a very low moment for our Navy, scarce of everything that was not valor and devotion of duty.
In a good intended attempt to fill the gap, the Spanish admiralty designed in 1939 what was called “[i]Ley de construcción de nuevas unidades navales[/i]” ("[i]New naval units construction act[/i]"), that foresaw the construction of 4 battleships (based on the Italian [i][b]Impero[/b][/i] class), 2 armored cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 54 destroyers, 36 torpedo boats and 50 submarines among many other smaller units. It was too ambitious a plan, if not a dream, that did not consider the availability of the Spanish industry of the moment, nor the technology, nor the immense amount of money that would be required for its completion, and WWII sealed its fate nevertheless.

By the end of the WWII the new naval warfare lessons had been learnt, showing clearly the need of an aircraft carrier of some kind if a fleet wanted to have some chance of success in any future action.

The moment was not the best one for Franco´s regime, deprived of all international support, and having to deal with the aftermath of the SCW as well.

Desperately looking for an aircraft carrier, the Spanish Navy was offered in 1948 the [i][b]Bogue-class[/b][/i] escort carrier [i][b]HMS Nabob[/b][/i], decommissioned in 1944 after being torpedoed by [b][i]U354[/i][/b] in the Barents Sea, but supposedly in reasonable condition yet. The Navy commission sent to Holland (where former [i][b]HMS Nabob[/b][/i] was moored at the time) to inspect the ship found her in poorer than expected condition, with many key elements (including the catapults) missing, and the repairs being found anti economical.

After this fiasco, the Spanish Navy considered a second option, that was rebuilding [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] as a light carrier, and hence what was called [i][b]Project nr.66[/b][/i] was submitted in February 1950.

The plan intended a complete rebuild of [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] saving only her hull and machinery, and adding a complete hangar and flight deck with an island. This was the basic sketch of [i][b]Project nr.66[/b][/i]:
[attachment=1](91c).jpg[/attachment]
The final product would have been a unit with the general lines of the Royal Navy [b][i]Colossus[/i][/b] class carriers.
[attachment=0](91d) P-66 CANARIAS.jpg[/attachment]
Anyhow, the project was dropped after the navy was offered at the end of 1950 the hull of the former Italian heavy cruiser [i][b]Trieste[/b][/i], that had been sunk in April 1943 at La Maddalena. For a chance, the oil of the ruptured fuel tanks had flooded the machinery spaces, acting as a preserver against salt water, and keeping them in reasonable condition. The hull of [i][b]Trieste [/b][/i]was bought at a very low price, towed first to Cartagena and then over to Ferrol, to try the conversion into a aircraft carrier. The whole action proved to be another failure and a waste of badly needed money, but it is a different story, in Rudyard Kipling´s words.[/size]

[size=150][b]The post war period[/b].

[i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] went all thorugh WWII with virtually no changes from her SCW appearance, other than neutrality markings: a national flag painted fore and aft, and other ones on turrets nr.2 and 3. Only the half mast behind the tower has been removed for some reason unknown to me.
[attachment=6](87) Canarias post-war.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=5](88) Canarias 1944.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=4](89) Neutrality markings.jpg[/attachment]
On May 27th. 1941, the Spanish Navy was requested by the [i][b]Kriegsmarine[/b][/i] to send some units to the place where [i][b]Bismarck[/b][/i] had just been sunk, in order to try and find survivors, and it was [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] that was sent on this humanitarian mission. Sadly, by the time she got there, no survivor could be found, but only two corpses, that were taken on board, put into canvas bags and then respectfully buried in the sea.
[attachment=3](90a).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=2](90b) Bismarck episode.jpg[/attachment]
Surprisingly, a full tripod mast was added again aft of the conning tower sometime after the war, as it can be seen in this 1948 picture…
[attachment=1](91a) Canarias.jpg[/attachment]
The fire direction is already complete by now, and all the 120mm. a/a guns have their shields. And this was therefore her silhouette at the time:
[attachment=0](91b).jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]The [i]Komsomol[/i] episode[/b].

On December 14th. she sank the blockade runner Soviet freighter [i][b]Komsomol[/b][/i] off Oran, provoking a diplomatic crisis –and a bit more caution from the Soviets when shipping arms and supplies to Spain.
[attachment=3](83).jpg[/attachment]
Notice the air recognition markings in this excellent picture of [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i]: two black crosses on the white roofs of turrets nr.2 and 3,
[attachment=2](84) Canarias air markings.jpg[/attachment]
And here you are [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] crew celebrating the victory at the end of the war. Notice the half mast, the clean sides and the absence of shields for the 120 mm. guns.
[attachment=1](85) Canarias.jpg[/attachment]
And once the war was over, here she is again in 1939, sailing into Ferrol Bay:
[attachment=0](86) Canarias 1939.jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b][i]Canarias[/i] active service[/b].

[b][i]Canarias[/i][/b] saw the first action on September 29th. 1936 in her first war patrol off Cape Espartel, close to Tangiers, engaging and hitting the Republican destroyer [i][b]Almirante Ferrándiz[/b][/i] at 16,000 m. with her second salvo, and stopping her with the third at 20,000 m., closing range and sinking her afterwards, opening Gibraltrar Straits for nationalist transports, greatly helping the deployment in the peninsula of the units in Africa, and speeding up the offensive on Toledo and Madrid.

This was [i][b]Almirante Ferrándiz[/b][/i] on May 27th. 1931, lying at anchor in Vigo, my town:
[attachment=3](80).jpg[/attachment]
A beautiful picture of a destroyer squadron before the war, with all the ships displaying the ID codes (no pennant numbers at the time) on their bows:
[attachment=2](81).jpg[/attachment]
And, as far as I know, these are the last pictures ever taken of [i][b]Almirante Ferrándiz[/b][/i], completely disabled and already sinking, the first kill of [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i]:
[attachment=1](82).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0](82b).jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150]This was the crew of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i], with admiral Vierna in foreground. One of my best friends´s uncle is somewhere here. 765 members of her crew were killed, and a further 441 could be rescued. May all of them rest in peace.
Incidentaly, [i][b]Residencia Sanitaria Almirante Vierna[/b][/i] used to be the name of the hospital were I was born.
[attachment=1](78).jpg[/attachment]
And this last picture was hanging for years on the bulkheads of frigate [i][b]Baleares´s F71[/b][/i] commander cabin. I would say this portrays [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] short before her sinking.
[attachment=0](79).jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]The sinking of [i]Baleares[/i][/b].

The explosion had nevertheless been so massive that it had been seen by two British destroyers, [i][b]HMS´s Kempenfelt[/b][/i] and [b][i]Boreas[/i][/b], that were sailing at some 40 nm. away and took it for what it actually was, a catastrophe, and headed immediately towards it.

By the time they had arrived, [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] was already a burning derelict, sinking quickly by the bows. As the rest of the Spanish units had left the area, [i][b]HMS´s Kempenfelt[/b][/i] and [i][b]Boreas[/b][/i] did not hesitate in closing on [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] and starting the rescue of the survivors. Here you are the sequence of her very last minutes, taken from one of the British destroyers. Notice the angle of the hull, and the aft turrets still trained off to port quarter and oil burning at the bows:
[attachment=9](68).jpg[/attachment]
The turrets are now closer to the sea level:
[attachment=8](69).jpg[/attachment]
Notice the steeper angle, the rudder and the screws, already visible:
[attachment=7](70).jpg[/attachment]
And this is what seems to be the last picture ever taken of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i], with the destroyer getting away from the sinking ship:
[attachment=6](71).JPG[/attachment]
The following morning was again very eventful, with [i][b]HMS´s Kempenfelt[/b][/i] and [i][b]Boreas[/b][/i] still taking survivors on board, and the nationalist cruisers, once the convoy had been secured, coming back to the rescue of survivors and take over the ones already onboard of the British cruisers. Notice the boats in the water and [i][b]Almirante Cervera[/b][/i] in the background:
[attachment=5](72).jpg[/attachment]
And here the same blessed [i][b]Kempenfelt[/b][/i] and [i][b]Boreas[/b][/i], with [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i]:
[attachment=4](74).jpg[/attachment]
One of the survivors of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] being put down to a boat. Notice the Royal Navy hats:
[attachment=3](75).jpg[/attachment]
In the middle of the operation, the republican air force showed up to finish off what would remain of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] and to make as a profitable harvest as possible among the other units present; all ships, Spanish and British alike, reported have been attacked, but with little success: only the British destroyers sustained a casualty. Notice a British destroyer in the first picture, and [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] (sadly very easy to identify from then on) in the second.
[attachment=2](76).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1](77).jpg[/attachment]
This last picture, reputed by the republicans as being [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] sinking, is actually [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] surprised, while still stopped and releasing steam, by the republican air force. Notice the British destroyer and the mistaken date of the newspaper (!!!)
[attachment=0](77b).jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]The last battle of [i]Baleares[/i][/b].

The last action of [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] happened in the early hours of March 6th. 1938, when the nationalist cruiser squadron in full, [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i], [b][i] Canarias[/i][/b] and [b][i]Almirante Cervera[/i][/b], escorting themselves this time a convoy coming from Italy, came across the cruisers [i][b]Libertad[/b][/i] and [b][i]Méndez Núñez[/i][/b] along with five destroyers.

Both squadrons were taken by surprise, and in the confusing action that followed, and after an ineffective gunnery duel, Vice-admiral Vierna, hoisting his flag onboard [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i], ordered a course change to cover the convoy, in an order that has very much discussed ever since as the cruisers had no destroyer protection themselves at the moment, coming dangerously close to the enemy destroyers, each of them armed with six torpedo tubes. Three of the destroyers, [i][b]Sánchez Barcáiztegui[/b][/i], [b][i]Lepanto[/i][/b], and [i][b]Almirante Antequera[/b][/i], had then the unexpected opportunity of launching a torpedo attack, what they immediately did.

Here you are the three ships involved in the torpedo attack, [i][b]Sánchez Barcaiztegui[/b][/i]:
[attachment=3](64) Sanchez Barcaiztegui (SB).jpg[/attachment]
[i][b]Lepanto[/b][/i]:
[attachment=2](65) Lepanto (LT).jpg[/attachment]
and [i][b]Almirante Antequera[/b][/i]:
[attachment=1](66) Almirante Antequera.jpg[/attachment]
The effect of this attack was spectacular and horrific:[i][b] Baleares[/b][/i] was hit by two, maybe three, of the torpedoes launched against her between turrets nr.1 and 2, making the magazines to blow up and also destroying the conning tower, killing instantly all officers in the bridge along with admiral Vierna´s staff.
[attachment=0](67) Baleares.jpg[/attachment]
Being deeply involved in the action, the rest of the nationalist units had to leave [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] by herself to protect the convoy, and the republican units left the area immediately as well, so nobody on both sides could care for the survivors.[/size]

[size=150][b]Activity in the SCW[/b].

Most commonly under the direct orders of the nationalist fleet commander, Francisco Moreno, and along with the light cruiser [i][b]Almirante Cervera[/b][/i], both heavy cruisers would be used against the republican navy and freighters, running with great efficiency a severe blockade on the republican coast and commercial lines, seizing ships and freight from the USSR, France, Britain and Mexico without much interference, although the bulk of the pre-war Spanish navy was in the hands of the republicans. This blockade could be run with such a great success because the republicans were desperately short of officers, after the mass slaughter of navy officers on the republican side at the beginning of the war, something that is sometimes ignored. A well-known acid remark at the time stated that “[i]the republican navy was commanded by corporals[/i]”.

[i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] greatest success took place in the morning on September 7th. 1937, when she intercepted a republican convoy escorted by the light cruisers [i][b]Libertad [/b][/i]and [i][b]Méndez Núñez[/b][/i] and six modern destroyers off cape Cherchell, Algeria.
Trying to protect the freighters [i][b]Libertad[/b][/i] and [i][b]Méndez Núñez[/b][/i] engaged [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i], and in the action that followed at a range of 20,000-16,500 m. and at a speed of 29 knots, both [i][b]Libertad[/b][/i] and [i][b]Baleares [/b][/i]got hits on each other, [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] finding range with the third salvo, and hitting [i][b]Libertad[/b][/i] four times, but getting herself hit twice, and sustaining a fire in one of the 120 mm. ready use magazines. In the meanwhile, two ships of the convoy ran aground close to Cherchell, one to become a total loss and the other one to be salvaged and interned by the French authorities, and two more were able to reach that port.

Here you are [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] at the time of the action off cape Cherchell:
[attachment=4](59) Baleares .jpg[/attachment]
Here you are two views of [i][b]Libertad[/b][/i], as [i][b]Príncipe Alfonso[/b][/i] (her original name), before or very shortly after the Republic:
[attachment=3](60) Libertad Principe Alfonso.JPG[/attachment]
And as Libertad, at a later stage of her life :
[attachment=2](61) Libertad .jpg[/attachment]
And here cruiser [i][b]Méndez Núñez[/b][/i], a ship that was already obsolete at the time of her launching :
[attachment=1](62) Méndez Núñez.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0](63) Méndez Núñez.jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b][i]Baleares[/i] enters service[/b].

Much more behind schedule than [b][i]Canarias[/i][/b], [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] was also hastily completed, and entered service with both 203 mm. rear turrets and all the secondary artillery missing. Turret nr.3 was fitted in Cadiz in December 1936. She was originally provided 120 mm and 100 mm by the Italians and British 40 mm Bofors a/a guns, and got finally her nr.4 203 mm. turret only in the summer 1937.

This was hence [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] after December 1936, and before July 1937 :
[attachment=6](52).JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=5](53).jpg[/attachment]
This rare, interesting picture shows the two units mooring together, [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] showing the empty pit for turret nr.4 and displaying the white cross for aerial recognition:
[attachment=4](54).JPG[/attachment]
And so, this was [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] in December 1936 or the very first months of 1937, turret nr.4 still missing, and apparently little of her a/a battery yet:
[attachment=3](55).JPG[/attachment]
And here [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i], complete and fully operative:
[attachment=2](56) Canarias.JPG[/attachment]
Their lines being virtually identical after both units were complete, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] and [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] were very difficult to distinguish from each other. Many modelers and even naval authors often make mistakes when trying to identify these ships in pictures, as I could see while gathering pictures for this essay.
Other than minor details on the conning tower and the paint art on the sides of the turrets, the most obvious difference was the funnel cap that [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] received at some moment, and that [i][b]Canarias [/b][/i]never had. Here you are [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] with [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] on the left background:
[attachment=1](57) Together.jpg[/attachment]
When seen at some distance, they were virtually identical, and would mislead any eye. Here you are, necessarily before march 1938, the nationalist cruiser squadron, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] and [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] (I am not able to identify them individually), with the light cruiser [i][b]Almirante Cervera[/b][/i] between them, and a minelayer and a gunship in the foreground:
[attachment=0](58) Cruiser squadron .JPG[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b][i]Canarias [/i]sea trials[/b].

[i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] could start her sea trials in 1934. Here she is in one of the first outings, with turrets nr.3 and 4 still missing. Notice the republican flag and the foremast, that for some reason was later omitted:
[attachment=2](50).jpg[/attachment]
A futher trials day, this time with turret nr.3 already in its place:
[attachment=1](51) Canarias sea trials.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0](51b) Canarias Sea trials.jpg[/attachment]
[/size]

[size=150][b]Secondary armament[/b].

Because of the outbreak of the SCW, the ships never received the secondary armament of the [b][i]County[/i][/b]-class and lacked therefore efficient a/a defence for a long time after entering service. [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] was provisionally armed in the summer 1936 with four 102 mm. and some 57 mm. guns from the old battleship [i][b]España[/b][/i]. She was rearmed later with eight 120 mm. a/a guns, 4 twin 20 mm mounts and two twin 12.7 mm MG. As the British firm also refused, for political reasons, to send the fire director previously ordered, [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] received a provisional Vickers fire director from a coastal battery, completed with some other elements purchased from the Portuguese navy.

Here you are some pics of [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i] or [b][i]Baleares[/i][/b] 120 mm. a/a battery :
[attachment=8](45).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=7](46).jpg[/attachment]
And a very interesting picture :
[attachment=6](47).jpg[/attachment]
Other than the a/a machine gun on the right platform, the grey German helmets in this last picture mean probably that this is a post-war photograph, what means it has to have been made on board [i][b]Canarias[/b][/i], what subsequently means that [b][i]Canarias[/i][/b] a/a battery did not received her shields until much later.

On the other hand, [i][b]Baleares[/b][/i] seemed to have received apparently only four, not eight, shields of a squared shape, different from later models, as it can be observed in these two pics of her while moored at Cádiz:
[attachment=5](47b).jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=4](47c).JPG[/attachment]
And this one, while lying at anchor:
[attachment=3](47d).JPG[/attachment]
This further picture shows 120 mm. guns, with and without shields, along with the a/a MG:
[attachment=2](47e).JPG[/attachment]
[b][i]Canarias[/i][/b] was eventually provided with new design shields for her a/a battery:
[attachment=1](48).jpg[/attachment]
And one clear shot of one of the a/a machine guns on its platform:
[attachment=0](49).jpg[/attachment]
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