Spanish Blue Fleet in the Black Sea

[Dan Po]

I was very surprised when I found this informations:



Admiral Moreno selected Isabel La Catolica as his flagship for the "Blue Fleet" contingent of warships sent to the Black Sea to fight against the Russians. Nearing the Russian fleet, Isabel La Catolica's unexpectedly intense anti-aircraft fire drove off an attack by Russian Ilyushin Il-4 twin-engined torpedo bombers. Isabel and Canarias turned away from the slower ships of the Spanish fleet in pursuit of the Russian cruisers Voroshilov and Molotov. In the running gunfight the high output of Isabel's fifteen 8" guns (spotting of shot assisted by Dedalo's aircraft) severely damaged the Molotov and drove off the Voroshilov, but a Russian shell explosion in the hangar of Isabel started fires that forced the ship to turn away from the battle abeam of the wind to try to limit the spread of flames. The torpedo bombers again appeared, but Il-2 Stormovik aircraft moved in as strafers to suppress Isabel's anti-aircraft fire, enabling the Il-4's to get three torpedo hits in succession, dooming the ship never to return to Spain.


Take a look here

It is the first time when I found something about the presence of spanish navy in The Black Sea durring rhe ww2.

[Dan Po]

After a short search I found this informations about the "Blue Fleet" (in the Black Sea) force:

- "pocket" battleship Jaime I - 8X12" (305 mm) guns, 15.000 t

- seaplanes carrier Dedalo - 11 seaplanes, 1 airship, light AA, 10.800 t

- heavy cruiser Isabel La Catolica - 15X8" (203 mm) guns, 17.500 t

- heavy cruiser Cannarias - 8X8" (203 mm) guns, 10.670 t

- destroyers .... ?

This post has been edited by Dan Po on March 16, 2006 11:06 pm

[Victor]

You didn't here about this before, simply because it didn't happen. No military ship could pass through the straits into the Black Sea so in case all these ships flew over land to get here, it is just a frigment of someone's wild imagination.

Furthermore, by looking through Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten XXXIV. Jahrgang 1940 I found no trace of Isabel La Catolica or the Dedalo

[Dan Po]

silly me !


here is the introduction for my fantastic source of information:

"Introduction
The following series of essays and pictures regard a fictional set of Imperial Japanese naval vessels, and others, developed by my friend Admiral U. Furashita. These units never sailed the seas, except in the Admiral's imagination, as part of his "Victory Through Seapower" World War II wargame. I hope you are as amused by them as I am."