IRN Valencia (CL-1939)
The Valencia class was built as the Iberian navy needed some cruisers to escort the battleships and aircraft carriers, a task for which the big Ebro and Canarias class cruisers were not built for. The Valencia class returned to the smaller 5.9" guns but kept the twelve gun layout of the Canarias type. These cruisers were equivalent in time to the Royal Navy Southampton and Edinburgh classes but were smaller due to the less number of secondary guns fitted. The Valencia only had eight dual purpose secondary guns while the bigger Royal Navy ships had twelve or more.
Handsome two funnel ships, the class were a good blend of firepower and armour in a reasonable sized cruiser.Up to three aircraft could be carried when the ships were used as patrol cruisers. Only two were carried when acting with the battlefleet. The 37mm twin mountings supplied by the Germanic States (GS) had not proved as good as the quad 2 pounder mounting originally supplied through Vickers. So the armament featured GS 5.9" triple turrets, triple 21" torpedoes, and Arado Ar196 aircraft. While through Vickers the ship carried the British 4.5", quad 2 pounder pom poms and 20mm cannons.
| Displacement | 11,500 tons std, 13,900 tons full load |
| Length | 578.5 ft |
| Breadth | 63 ft |
| Draught | 19 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft geared turbines, 80,000shp |
| Speed | 33 knots |
| Range | 6000 at 15 knots |
| Armour | 4" side, 2.5" deck, 3.5" turrets |
| Armament | 12 x 5.9" (4x3) 8 x 4.5" (4x2) 20 x 2pd (5x4) 14 x 20mm (5x2 4x1) |
| Torpedoes | 6 x 21" (2x3) |
| Aircraft | 2-3 |
| Complement | 820 |
| Notes | IRN
Valencia IRN Barcelona IRN Alicante IRN Pyrenee |
Quad 2 pounder pom pom mounts ready for fitting to Valencia class ships. Note single 37mm mounted on stern till 2 pounder were ready.