Santa Ana class - Guide 384

The Santa Ana class, first rate ships of the line of the Spanish Royal Navy, are today's subject.
Read more about the ships here:
www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Wars...
bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob...
Naval History books, use code 'DRACH' for 25% off - www.usni.org/press/books?f%5B...
Free naval photos and more - www.drachinifel.co.uk
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Want to talk about ships? / discord
'Legionnaire' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@apricity4290]

What wood types were typically used by the large navies of the world for shipbuilding?

[@TomFynn]

While size matters, a ship needs a well trained crew or it is just so much woodwork. How did the Spanish crews compete to the British crews in terms of skill and experience?

[@garywheeley5108]

Drac after the recent problems with the royal navy's super carriers propellers and finding that that they only had 2 of them got me thinking 65 thousand tons with only 2 propellers is this a first and in the time that the channel covers is there any big ships over say 20 thousand tons that only use 2 and how much speed would be gained or lost by more or less propellers and what about redundancy in a combat situation🤔

[@unryumaru2095]

Between Admiral Yi and Admiral Nimitz, who performed better given their circumstances?

[@CharlesStearman]

​@@garywheeley5108 Nelson and Rodney only had two screws.

[@pedenharley6266]

Thank you, Drach. The Spanish designed excellent ships. It would have been nice if one of their Havana-built mahogany-constructed ships had managed to survive to the present.

[@augustosolari7721]

Mahogany? Can you imagine the amount of furniture it could have been made with that?

[@gamedude412]

@@augustosolari7721I’m guessing many a British table and chair could trace their wood to a Spanish frigate or line after wartime salvage

[@20chocsaday]

Sail to Havana for safety and hit the rocks.!

[@lafeelabriel]

If fortunes had more been in their favour they easily could have.

[@lafeelabriel]

@@gamedude412 Probably a few French ships in there too. After all why waste perfectly good seasoned timber?

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

Almost choked on my sandwich at the "and now they're both on fire". 🤣

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

And we thought things had just turned to shit ... when they *_really_* turned to shit ... .

[@dorn0531]

Aaaaand then it got worse

[@cartmann94]

San Hermenegildo (Er-meh-neh-hil-do) was a visigotic prince in 6th century Spain. He converted to Catholicism, which caused a confrontation which his father and royal family who were still Arian Christians, resulting in his capture and execution at age 21. He was canonized and declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 1585 and is the patron saint of conversos. And his name derives from the gothic word Airmanagild, which means "valuable for his cattle".

[@mbryson2899]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Posts like yours are one of my favorite parts of this channel. 👍

[@Blockio1999]

A Spanish Navy: What the hell happened? kind of video would be neat at some point; I know the broad bullet points of how and why they fell from power as hard as they did, but a more detailed breakdown would be undoubtedly fascinating

[@AtlatlMan]

I agree. There is not nearly enough out there about the Spanish Navy and the Spanish Empire in general.

[@robertmoyse4414]

They still know how to build a good ship in Ferrol. I had the pleasure of spending several weeks there when I was in the Royal Australian Navy. The yard is an amazing piece of living history, with state of the art 21st century machinery inside 16th century buildings. They have a big room that contains models of every ship they have ever built. Unfortunately I don’t think it is open to the public.

[@mogaman28]

There is a Shipbuilding Museum besides the shipyards, says Google.

[@riddlemcgriddle]

Drachinifel: *uploads* Me: My happiness is immeasurable, and my day is saved.

[@alfonsobarrado2902]

I used the book you add in the description for my final project in University. All books from Gracía Torralba-Perez are a must to understand the spanish navy production in the XVIII century. A video about the Ildefonsinos would be also very nice, they were the 74-gun class from the same building Era Great video as usual

[@augustosolari7721]

Were the Idelfonsos Also designed by Landa?

[@alfonsobarrado2902]

@@augustosolari7721 Yes, when the spanish navy opened a contract for a new 74 gun ship design there were 3 final proposals. The first one from Julian Martin de Retamosa, the 2nd by Thomas Bryant (An evolution from the english design stage) and the last from Landa, wich was the elected.

[@alfonsobarrado2902]

@@augustosolari7721 Also, when doing this final project i remember reading in one of García Torralba-Perez (Navíos de la Real Armada 1700-1860) that Landa explicity said in official comunications that the Santa Ana designs were mostly created by his Chief Engineer D. Miguel de la Puente, he did the final revision and minor changes before submiting the blueprints.

[@vespelian5769]

Great to learn more about Spanish ships as they do not get much coverage, and for for the record mine is the first like, gratefully bestowed.

[@augustosolari7721]

Excellent video as usual. One of the best Landa designs, the Meregildos were not only strong, but they also were fast and agile for a ship of their size and very good sailors. Much better than the more famous Trinidad.

[@lafeelabriel]

Horribly unlucky though it must be said. And I don't just mean the two that sank each other.

[@overlordminigun6346]

Been watching your channel for a couple years now and I love your stuff! Please do some more age of sail stuff, when you cover it the videos are brilliant!

[@Packless1]

5:50 ...friendly fire isn't...!

[@RadioactiveSherbet]

Friendly fire is an oxymoron.

[@jeffholloway3882]

As the patreon drydock is finishing off, this pops up, morning is looking good!!

[@bharned1]

The Second Battle of Algeciras sounds devastatingly sad. Sister ships mistakenly obliterating one another in the chaos and darkness, sending 1700 men to their deaths. What a tragic end.

[@concertunes156]

Re: the Spanish penchant for giving ships religious names - I have always thought that "San Francisco de Asis" was a singularly inappropriate name for a battleship.

[@Fronzel41]

In the sci-fi webcomic Schlock Mercenary an alien race built Dyson Spheres which they refer to with a word in their language which means “this was expensive to build”

[@anthonyjackson280]

". . . the class would prove to be, IN THE MAIN, an exceptionally durable . . ." ~ I heard what you did there!

[@augustosolari7721]

I strongly recommend the book 'Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy' by Harbron. The author examines the factors that shaped the development of the Spanish Navy in the eighteenth century and maintains that the well-built ships and skilled forces were nowhere near as ineffective as they are usually represented.

[@notshapedforsportivetricks2912]

A Rum Ration on the Havana shipyard could be an interesting diversion.

[@mikeynth7919]

Almost want to break out "Wooden Ships & Iron Men" again.

[@khaelamensha3624]

Great idea! 😉

[@AtlatlMan]

Ah, a fellow man of taste.

[@rickgoetter6340]

Excellent video, Drach! Thanks!

[@lewiswestfall2687]

Thanks Drach

[@jasonz7788]

Loved it drachif!!! Thank you

[@ralach]

Beautiful ships :)

[@robertbertagna1672]

Thanks!

[@richardchiriboga4424]

Thank you for a very informative and interesting video!!!!

[@RicArmstrong]

I was wondering if you could do a video about the British warships that attacked the port of Baltimore during 1812. Since my city if Baltimore has been in the news lately because of the ship Dali destroy the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It's named after him because he witnessed the British armada attacking Fort McHenry during the battle and wrote the national anthem. Unfortunately, we aren't taught much about what kind of British ships participated in that battle.

[@chiseldrock]

thanks mate

[@randyhavard6084]

Great video

[@billthomas8205]

Thank you, Drach. More on Napoleonic vessels, please!

[@donaldcarey114]

Nice but an analysis of the ship's design would have really topped it off - like how they got a higher speed, crew requirements (and berthing), etc.

[@harryberning3621]

Poor Santa Anna can't think of a fate much worse for a warship then being left to sink in harbour

[@soumadelezo4867]

Españita mencionada :)

[@999theeagle]

They had nukes back at the siege of Gibraltar!? 1:40?

[@edwardscott3262]

Mushroom clouds don't mean nuclear. They happen with any large explosion. For the same reason. The air heated by the explosion rises. Then as it cools it drifts out and forms the shape of a mushroom cloud. For testing purposes the US set off a very large amounts of TNT a few times. Each time it formed a mushroom cloud. You can find videos and pictures of those non nuclear tests. Another fun nuclear fact. You can't bomb anything back into the stone age. Otherwise Nevada would be like something out of the Flintstones or a nuclear wasteland video game. It's where the US tested most of it's nuclear weapons. So many nukes people can be pedantic about what exactly counts as a "nuclear test". I believe it was 90 open air nuclear bomb tests and hundreds of underground tests. There were so many tests and after the first few they had to start warning the public. So Las Vegas took advantage of being close enough to nukes being tested to see them. They had roof watch parties. Right from downtown LV. 😂

[@MarzoVarea]

Any large enough explosion in an adequate atmosphere makes a mushroom shaped cloud.

[@fixman88]

@@MarzoVarea The .1 Kiloton test calibration explosion done before the Trinity Test made a small one.

[@albertvonhabsburg]

Mucho cannons, mucho damage.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

I cant resist to mention the Alamo

[@Bronasaxon]

Earliest I’ve ever arrived for a vid.

[@adrianrutterford762]

Saturday lunchtime viewing sorted!

[@user-ie1tz5rm8x]

Bravo , comrade , press on. , ill catch up , some daze...!

[@peterschorn1]

Los Airmanagildos--possibly closer in sense to "The Gold-Diggers?"

[@colbunkmust]

The Battles of Algeciras have a wonderful first hand account by a Commander Aubrey and his surgeon, I mean physician, Dr Maturin. 😉

[@lafeelabriel]

This beautiful class deserved a kinder fate than they got, but unfortunately thats life and war for you. Still a remarkable story about a remarkable class.

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Excellent presentation, thanks. Did I hear that the Santa Ana wrecked herself on the same rock that claimed the last of her sisters a year before?

[@gamedude412]

Family tradition run deep … but too deep lol

[@TheCobraKing93]

Yay

[@CorePathway]

Did Spain ever win a major naval engagement with any of these ships?

[@augustosolari7721]

The capture of the Rossily squadron at Cádiz in 1808.

[@acidtreat101]

Santa Ana! I live right next to a city with that name haha

[@FltCaptAlan]

So do we credit the 3rd rate HMS Superb with sinking 2 first rates, along with the capture of that 3rd rate?

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@stevenseibel9216]

love this shit

[@jeromethiel4323]

LOL! Age of sail gunnery. If we throw enough shit at the enemy, some of it might just hit. Naval gunnery is hard, no fooling. Even in WW2, the hit rate was low, and that was with good to excellent guns, and fire directors and accurate range finders. Towards the end of WW2, we even had crude radar, didn't help all that much. When you have two objects in motion, it's not easy to target each other, and especially so if you are bobbing up and down as well, rendering this a 3d problem.

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Trolling the red team’s two biggest 1st rates into blowing each other to pieces requires a whole bunch of natural 20s…

[@pabloalvez915]

As a person of partial Spanish ancestry, this video is just fine.

[@wilsonj4705]

05:07 What a cluster.......

[@jimwind7589]

What were the main Spanish ship building ports?

[@cesarsalas8506]

El Ferrol, Cartagena, Cádiz, Guarnizo, La Habana.

[@Wolfeson28]

Did "los Meregildos" have a mostly positive connotation, or was it more negative, perhaps akin to something like "the boondoggles"?

[@Drachinifel]

I think it depends on context, at the time I think it was a kind of ironic commentary on the massive costs of them relative to all the other things the money could've been spent on, but some of the period references do seem to use the term in a more positive light, a bit like how describing something like the F-22 as a 'gold plated solution' can be positive or negative depending on the commenter :)

[@tomasglavina9952]

There is a wooden model kit of Santa Ana by Artesiana Latina, if someone wants to built it 🙂

[@gattingbowledwarne]

A big one? I built their San Juan nepomuceno. Lovely ship. Didn’t know they did the Santa Ana.

[@tomasglavina9952]

@@gattingbowledwarne I built the San Felipe (Panart/Mantua), many years ago.

[@gattingbowledwarne]

@@tomasglavina9952 great hobby

[@internetexplorer6097]

This video was first rate.

[@fixman88]

Hee.

[@leewood6843]

santisima trinidad review?

[@peterbrazier7107]

HMS Icarus

[@sthompson1000]

"Snuck up"? Oh come on!

[@apricity4290]

You can sail this vessel in the game Naval Action. For too much money! (Don’t, the game is crap)

[@lorelbelli]

I love Naval Action, but I do agree that the dlcs are way too expensive and that the clans animosities are insane (as in not sane for anyone)

[@dulio12385]

Youch, they should've called these ships the Eight Misfortunes. None of them did anything of note save to send a large chunk of the Spanish treasury to the bottom of the sea.

[@augustosolari7721]

What about forcing the British Navy to spend a Lot of resources un chasing, fighting AND countering them?

[@stevewyckoff6904]

Any advice on how to dodge the ads that amount to 50% of the Saturday presentation?

[@windoverwaves6781]

Adblockers my friend

[@Drachinifel]

I used to have only skippable ads on, YT has since changed the system so its either earn nothing or allow YT to decide what kind of ads lead the video. 😞

[@stevewyckoff6904]

@@windoverwaves6781 Using Adblock plus to no effect on ads in Drach's feed.

[@kkupsky6321]

Spain doesn’t own Cuba and had a boat? No way. Centuries ago…

[@ahuels67]

Happy 4/20 everyone. May your day be full of Joints and Joy, Buds and Beauty. Thanks for another great vid Drach, we all love you.

[@999theeagle]

I remember the Jamaican Navy ship the HMP Cannibus!

[@BigSkySix]

Now look at birthdays. Historic ones.

[@ahuels67]

@@BigSkySix IF only the Mustache Man had smoked some weed when he was younger instead of smoking hatred of Jews, the world would be a much different place.

[@Warentester]

A certain failed painter ​@@BigSkySix

[@Deridus]

If I had to choose which to get rid of first, cockroaches or MJ, I'd rather nix the weed.

[@robertf3479]

A wonderful way to start my weekend of yard work by being able to enjoy a Drachinifel presentation plus a big, steaming cup of ambition (coffee.) HMS Superb's (74 guns IIRC) ambush from behind against the Spanish fleet was written of by Patrick O'Brien in his book "Master and Commander" (first of the series) from the point of view of Commander Jack Aubrey, himself eating his heart out ashore at Gibraltar. Superb's Captain succeeded beyond what was probably his wildest dreams in being responsible for the destruction of two enemy First Rates plus whatever other damage and confusion he caused the combined French and Spanish fleet in his mad dash through their formation.

[@merlinwizard1000]

52nd, 20 April 2024

[@yes_head]

Sounds like well built and dangerous ships. Their commanders and crew, maybe not so much.

[@augustosolari7721]

Spanish ships were generally well commanded. Spanish crews were brave but not well trained due to combination of factors: 1) competition of the army 2) Spain was not densely populated AND there was a lot of migration to the new world 3) service in the Navy was not voluntary, More like a national service for a year or two. Not enough to produce good sailors 4) later in the napoleonic wars: blockade. There was a huge variation according to the efforts of the capitans. If the British found a Spanish ship with well trained crew, like El Glorioso, they were in for a nasty surprise.

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

Durst

[@Yaivenov]

The Spanish Navy, aka A Series of Unfortunate Events.

[@andrewmacgregor8717]

Im not sure why you're doing more videos on pre 1900 wooden sailing ships when the title of the videos is 5 Minute Guide To Warships WWI X WWII. It would make sense if there is a direct tie-in or tenuous date of scraping our something, but pre-Napoleonic? If you're going down that rabbit hole perhaps a separate channel is more appropriate?

[@khaelamensha3624]

After the change of music, we are now facing the accuracy of the titles civil war 🤣