page_title: Alsedo-class destroyer
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Alsedo-class destroyer / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Destroyer Velasco (V), Alsedo Class (1925) Español: Destructor Velasco (V), botado en 1923, buque perteneciente a la clase Alsedo, participó en la guerra civil (1936-39) en el bando rebelde. Después de la contienda fue dado de baja en 1957.
context_page_description: The Alsedo class was a Spanish class of destroyer. Three ships were built, based on a British design, entering service between 1924 and 1925. They all served through and survived the Spanish Civil War, two on the Republican side and one with the Nationalists. The class was retired in 1957–1961.
context_section_description: The three destroyers were launched between 1922 and 1923, and commissioned between 1924 and 1925. In early 1926, Alsedo supported the transatlantic flight from Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina, of a four-man Spanish Air Force crew led by pilot Major Ramón Franco—the brother of future Spanish caudillo Francisco Franco—and including copilot/navigator Captain Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz in the Dornier Do J Wal ("Whale") flying boat Plus Ultra ("Farther Still"). The seven stage journey covered  1,429 miles (2,300 km) nonstop on 30 January 1926 from the Cape Verde Islands to Fernando de Noronha. To lighten the plane for the third and longest leg of their seven-stage flight, Alsedo transported one of the aviators along the route so that he could meet Plus Ultra when it arrived at Fernando de Noronha.
  When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, Alsedo and Lazaga's crews sided with the Republican faction. Velasco, however, alongside at Ferrol, declared for the Nationalists and was damaged by Republican shelling before Ferrol fell to the Nationalists on 21 July.
  Velasco was the only operational destroyer that sided with the Nationalists, until Italy transferred four old destroyers in 1937. This resulted in Velasco seeing heavy service, helping to sink the Republican submarine B6 on 19 September 1936, and taking part in the Battle of Cape Palos. The two Republican destroyers were mainly occupied by escort duties, with Lazaga towing the British destroyer HMS Hunter to safety when Hunter struck a mine off Almeria in May 1937.
  Following the end of the Spanish Civil War, all three destroyers served with the Spanish State. On 17 May 1943 Alsedo and Lazaga were damaged by a large fire at the naval base at El Ferrol. The three destroyers continued to serve with the Spanish Navy until well into the 1950s, with Alsedo and Velasco being stricken in 1957 and Lazaga in 1961.
caption: Velasco
exif: {}