"Any good Spanish Navy Books?" Topic

Any good history books for the Spanish Navy, I have ordered a Black Seas Spanish fleet? Descriptions and histories of individual ships? Thanks.

Best one I've found so far is 'Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy' by John Harbron but it's not as good as the reference sources on other navies such as France and Britain. Seems an obvious hole in the market!

+1 NotNelson. The Habron book was a bit of a disappointment.

Thanks !

JJ's Wargames Blog has some amazing Black Seas models, many of them Spanish. When Mr. Jones makes an entry for a Spanish ship he often gives background on the ships including resources and paintings of the ships, their origin, their war record and final disposition.

jjwargames.blogspot.com

There is another book worthy of note, although fairly $$$ –

"Navios de la Real Armada 1700-1860"
by Enrique Garcia-Torralba Perez

It is in Spanish, but offers a goldmine of useful data for anyone with a bit of patience and a Spanish-English dictionary.

FWIW.

B

Fascinating historical tidbits…

Research where the Santissima Trinidad was built,

and, as she was not made of oak…

of what wood was she made?

A goodly number of Spanish warships were built in Havana and in Manila from teak and mahogany. Spanish ships had a reputation for VERY long lives.

B

Teak wasn't favoured by the British even though it was strong and resistant to the Toredo worm because injuries from teak splinters were much more prone to lead to infection. Not sure why but I'd love to hear a medical opinion.