 Jaime I, c. 1931
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| History | |
|---|---|
  Spain | |
| Name | Jaime I |
| Namesake | James I of Aragon |
| Builder | SECN, Naval Dockyard, El Ferrol, Spain |
| Laid down | 5 February 1912 |
| Launched | 21 September 1914 |
| Completed | 20 December 1921 |
| Fate | Wrecked by accidental explosion 17 June 1937; refloated, but discarded 3 July 1939 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | España-class battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 140 m (459 ft 4 in) o/a |
| Beam | 24 m (78 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) |
| Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement | 854 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Jaime I was a Spanish dreadnought battleship, the third and final member of the España class, which included two other ships: España and Alfonso XIII. Named after King James I of Aragon, Jaime I was built in the early 1910s, though her completion was delayed until 1921 owing to a shortage of materials that resulted from the start of World War I in 1914. The class was ordered as part of a naval construction program to rebuild the fleet after the losses of the Spanish–American War in the context of closer Spanish relations with Britain and France. The ships were armed with a main battery of eight 305 mm (12 in) guns and were intended to support the French Navy in the event of a major European war.
By the time Jaime I was completed, the Rif War had broken out in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco and the ship was used to support Spanish forces fighting in the colony in the early to mid-1920s. She was placed in reserve in 1931 after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, but was reactivated in 1933 to serve as the fleet flagship. Plans to modernize the vessel in the mid-1930s came to nothing after the start of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936. Jaime I and the bulk of the fleet remained loyal to the republican government, though her sister Alfonso XIII (by then having been renamed España), fell under rebel control. The Spanish Republican Navy nevertheless failed to make effective use of its naval superiority and Jaime I did not see significant action apart from bombarding Nationalist positions in North Africa. She was attacked twice by enemy aircraft during the war, and in June 1937, an accidental fire aboard the ship caused an internal explosion that destroyed the ship. Some of her guns were salvaged and mounted in coastal batteries after the war and remain extant, though no longer in use.