Navarra was a cruiser serving the Spanish Navy

Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

 from 1923 to 1956. Construction on Reina Victoria Eugenia—the ship's original name—began in 1915 by Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval

Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval

From 1909 up until the Spanish Civil War, the naval construction in Spain was monopolized by the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval - also Spanish Society for Naval Construction was largely owned by the British , and therefore almost all ships were designed after Royal Navy vessels...

 in Ferrol. The design showed considerable British design influence resembling contemporary British Town class cruisers

Town class cruiser (1910)

The Town class was a group of twenty-one light cruisers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . These vessels were long-range cruisers, suitable for patrolling the vast expanse covered by the British Empire...

. The boilers were re-arranged into three rooms to give three funnels. The ship was renamed Republica in 1931 and assumed the name Navarra in 1936.

Service

The ship was ordered as the Reina Victoria Eugenia (named after Queen consort Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg), laid down in 1915, launched 21 April 1920 and completed on 15 January 1923. She was flagship of the Spanish squadron during the Rif war

Rif War (1920)

The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.-Rifian forces:...

. After the declaration of the Spanish Republic in 1921 she was renamed Republica.

At the start of the Spanish civil war

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 in 1936 she was being refitted in Cadiz and was seized by the nationalist side. The refit included replacing the old coal fired boilers with oil fired units. New superstructure was added, one funnel removed and six 6-inch guns were moved to the centre line (four guns were deleted). Four German 88mm AA

88 mm gun

The 88 mm gun was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognizable German weapons of the war...

guns were also fitted and the torpedo tubes removed.

The ship had limited war service and was used as a training ship until retirement in 1956.