Spanish seaplane carrier Dédalo

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For other ships with the same name, see Spanish ship Dédalo.
Seaplane carrier Dédalo, September 1925.jpg
Spanish seaplane carrier Dédalo, during the landing of Al Hoceima, September 1925
History
Germany
NameNeuenfels
NamesakeNeuenfels castle
BuilderSwan Hunter, Newcastle
Launched19 April 1901
Completed1901
Out of serviceSeized by Spain, October 1918
Spain
NameDédalo
NamesakeDaedalus
Acquired1921
Commissioned1922
Decommissioned1934
StrickenApril 1936
FateScrapped 1940
General characteristics
Displacement9,900 tonnes
Length127.4 m (418 ft 0 in)
Beam16.76 m (55 ft 0 in)
Draft7.4 m (24 ft 3 in)
Installed powerone 3-cylinder reciprocating engines, 1 shaft, 3,000 shp (2,200 kW)
Speed10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Crew398
Armament
  • 4 × Krupp 105 mm (4.1 in) guns
  • 2 × 57 mm (2.2 in) AA guns
Aircraft carried20 seaplanes, 2 airships, 2 captive balloons

Dédalo (Spanish for Daedalus) was a Spanish seaplane and balloon carrier, the first of two ships of the Spanish Navy to bear this name. She entered service in 1922 and was written off in 1936, after taking part in the Second Moroccan War, where her aircraft were instrumental to the successful landing of Franco-Spanish forces at Al Hoceima on 8 September 1925.

History[]

Dédalo in dazzle paint loaded with three Felixstowe F.3 flying boats

Dédalo was originally the German steamer Neuenfels, built in Britain in 1901. In October 1918, towards the end of World War I, she was seized along with five other German ships interned at Spanish ports at the time, as reparations for Spanish ship losses to Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare during the war. Neuenfels was given the temporary name "España No.6", until transferred to the Spanish Navy in the autumn of 1921. The Spanish Naval Aeronautics had been interested in acquiring a seaplane carrier for some time, and "España No.6" was accordingly renamed Dédalo, then spent five months in Barcelona from December 1921 to be converted into a seaplane tender at a cost of 8 million pesetas.

The first rotorcraft to take off and land on the deck of a ship, 7 March 1934

Based in Cartagena, Dédalo participated in the Rif War until late September 1925 under the command of Wenceslao Benítez Inglott, with her Supermarine Scarab seaplanes and an airship carrying out bombing raids in support of the first successful amphibious landing of the modern era, at Al Hoceima.[1][2][3][4][5]

Profile of the Dédalo with its appearance in 1922

After the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931 she joined the Spanish Republican Navy. On 7 March 1934 aviation history was made when Juan de la Cierva, the inventor of the autogyro, performed a perfect landing onto Dédalo with a model C. 30 autogyro registered G-ACIO, near the port of Valencia; half an hour later it took off from her deck, after a short run of just 24 metres. This was the first rotorcraft to take off and land on the deck of a ship.[6]

Dédalo was decommissioned in 1934, and was struck in April 1936,[7] but the Spanish Civil War prevented her from leaving her homeport of Cartagena until 1 March 1940, when she was towed to Valencia for scrapping.

Aircraft facilities[]

Dédalo could carry two captive observation balloons of 1,200 m3 (42,000 cu ft) volume, two Italian-built armed airships of 1,500 m3 (53,000 cu ft) volume, and up to 20 seaplanes of various types over the years, including Felixstowe F.3, Savoia S.16 and S.16 bis, Macchi M.18 and Supermarine Scarab.

Dédalo was equipped with two hangars. The one in front of the superstructure was reserved for the airships, with a mooring mast at the bow. The other, behind the superstructure, was fitted with an elevator to service the seaplanes. Having neither a flush deck nor a catapult, her seaplanes had to be launched and retrieved by cranes.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Hemeroteca ABC: Las sufridas, Heroicas alas de España (in Spanish)
  2. ^ "Diario Oficial del Ministerio de Marina 07/01/1922, p. 30 - Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa". 7 January 1922. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  3. ^ Díaz-Bedia Astor, Luis, "Los Portaaviones Españoles: Un Siglo de Evolución con el Arma Aérea", Revista General de Marina, 271 (2016), p. 274
  4. ^ Laforet Hernández, Juan José (2010). lmirantes Horiundos de Canarias: III Jornadas Marítimo-Navales. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Gran Canaria. p. 74. ISBN 978-84-933042-8-7.
  5. ^ Ministerio de Defensa (2017). Cien años de aviación naval 1917-2017 (PDF). Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa. pp. 57–60. ISBN 978-84-9091-238-6.
  6. ^ "The first Dedalo was an aircraft transportation ship and the first in the world from which an autogyro took off and landed." Naval Ship Systems Command, US: Naval Ship Systems Command technical news.1966, v. 15-16, page 40
  7. ^ Hemeroteca ABC: El portaeronaves Dédalo, ha sido dado de baja (29 April 1936) (in Spanish)

External links[]

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