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Date Posted: 10:27:36 04/30/09 Thu
Author: Albert Parker
Subject: Re: 1776/8 Exchange of frigates by Neapolitan ships
In reply to: Manublasco 's message, "1776/8 Exchange of frigates by Neapolitan ships" on 00:11:23 04/30/09 Thu

>Hello to all,
>
>I am looking for more details about an exchange of 2-3
>34 guns frigates from the spanish royal navy by 2
>neapolitan or 2 sicilies kingdom 64 guns ships.
>
>Spanish sources are not of much help and I dont have
>any italian sources to check.
>
>The problem is that spanish sources talk about 2 or 3
>frigates, combining all 3 names; Santa Dorotea, Santa
>Teresa & Santa Clara (or Santa Chiara in italian).
>
>Also the received ships were named in the spanish navy
>as San Isidoro & San Leandro, saying that were former
>San Guiseppe & San Fernandino/Ferdinando...the ones
>with these names were launched at 1768 and some
>sources give them 50 guns only, instead of the 64.
>Spanish sources talk about 1776/8 launching like if
>they were taken by the spanish right after.
>
>Any data about this fact would be apreciated. Thanks!

Jan Glete tracked individual ships and must have had their names, but did not publish ship lists. He did, however, publish his quinquennial summaries of ship counts and acquisitions, with his estimates of total displacement.

For the quinquennium of 1776–80 he records three acquisitions of cruisers by the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, two of 1,001–1,500 tons totalling 2,200 tons (probably 1,100 tons each), one of 800 tons. A footnote to the total says, "Bought from Spain in exchange for two battleships." He says that in 1776–80 Spain "built" four battleships of 2,001–2,500 tons, including, according to a footnote, "two of 4,400 tons received from Naples in exchange for three frigates."

The following data are from Lamberto Radogna, Cronistoria delle Unità da Guerra delle Marine Preunitarie, in Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, Parte IV, Serie Varie, Vol. 11 (Rome: Ufficio Storico Marina Militare, 1981).

A list of ships in the Neapolitan navy, 1778-1815 (pp. 29–30), does not record any frigates acquired between 1776 and 1780. The closest are
Santa Dorotea, 1774
Santa Teresa, 1774
Perhaps the deal was made in 1774 but the ships weren't delivered until 1776 or later.
Individual ship histories include the following (you will have to do your own translation from the Italian)

Fregata "SANTA DOROTEA" (p. 89)
Un ponte a batteria coperta
Tre alberi a vele quadre e bompresso
Armamento all'origine: XXXVI/... F.L.
Acquistata a Cartagena nel 1778 dal re Ferdinando IV di Borbone per la Marina da guerra del suo regno, nel marzo 1781 catturò nelle acque della Sicilia un grosso lengo corsaro barabresco.

Fregata "SANTA TERESA"
Due ponti
Una batteria coperta
Tre alberi a vele quadre e bompresso
Armamento all'origine: XXXVI/... F.L.
Acquisata a Cartagena nel 1778 dal re Ferdinando IV di Borbone per la Marina da guerra del suo regno, nel 1783 fu comandata dal C.F. Federico Staiti.

On page 20, Radogna says, "Furono Segretari di STato della Marina Don Antonio del Rio dal 6 ottobre 1759 al 13 dicembre 1773, poi Don Antonio Ottero dal 14 dicembre 1773 all'8 agosto 1778 e nel periodo furono acquistate in Spagna le due fregate 'Santa Dorotea' e 'Santa Teresa.'" I can not find any references, in the pages and lists that I copied, of a third frigate, or of any renaming of Santa Dorotea and Santa Teresa.

There might be more information about the frigates and the ships of the line in the following:
• Sante Romiti, Le Marine Militari Italiane nel Risorgimento (1748–1861), in Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare (Rome: Italgraf S.A., 1950).
• Lamberto Radogna, Storia della marina militare delle Due Sicilie (1734–1860) (Milan: Mursià, 1978).

Christian St. Hubert's list of Spanish ships of the line, compiled from official records, says that HCMS San Isidoro was launched at Castellammare in 1776 but has a ? for the launch date of San Leandro at Castellammare. Under remarks for San Isidoro he has, "A Neapolitan warship exchanged (together with [San Leandro] in 1776, for 3 Spanish frigates: Santa Teresa, Santa Dorotea, and Santa Clara."

I have a copy of St. Hubert's manuscript list of Spanish frigates. That has the same information, that Santa Teresa, Santa Dorotea, and Santa Clara were exchanged in 1776 for San Isidoro and San Leandro. He gives the following information about the three Spanish frigates:
STA. TERESA, 34 guns
Launched 1768, Guarnizo
STA. DOROTEA, 34 guns
Launched 1771, Guarnizo
STA. CLARA, 34 guns
Launched 1776, Cartagena

It is not clear from the gun ratings why Glete thought that two of them displaced 1,100 tons each but the third only 800 tons. 800 would be more consistent with the gun ratings.

Perhaps the Spanish struck Santa Clara from their navy list but the Two Sicilies never took delivery of her.

While it appears that the two 64's were indeed built at Naples, they do not seem ever to have served in the Neapolitan navy. Perhaps the government decided they would be too expensive to operate and were bigger ships than they needed at that time, and made the deal with Spain even before they were launched. Of course, not too many years later Naples was building 74's, but that's another story.

I might be able to consult Romiti and Radogna (1978) again at the Library of Congress and look for more information about these five ships. I was not specifically interested in them when I looked at those books some years ago.

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