by Ayala Botto and Luis Crespo
1/700 R 11 Príncipe de Asturias (Scratchbuilt)
The Príncipe de Asturias, bears her name after the heir to the spanish Crown (much like the british Prince of Wales). The name has a long tradition in Spanish Armada.
The Armada has as well traditionally persued the deployment of a credible, if small, air arm, an effort not always acomplished due to the lack of funding and a sort of historical "bad luck"
In 1922 the first "Dédalo" was obtained from the conversion of a WWI merchantman, and became Spain´s first aeronaval asset, a handsome looking hidroplane tender with the rear half of her lenght being a flat "flight" deck, mainly used for the storing of hidroplanes.
But in march the 7th, 1934, the first purpose-designed STOL aircraft (Autogiro La Cierva) landed and took off safely from the "Dédalo". In 1972, a british Harrier safely landed and took off from the flight deck of the second "Dédalo", ex-USS "Cabot", an Independence class CVL lended to the Armada by the US Navy. In 1976, the Armada deployed her own Harriers from the "Dédalo" becoming the first navy to operate that aircraft from a carrier. The second "Dédalo" was a dream come true for the Armada, but was aging quickly and a replace become urgent by the early eighties. As usual in the second half of the XXth Century, the spanish navy looked across the Atlantic. A number of possibilities were considered, but eventually, Adm. Zumwalt´s SCS concept came across, and it seemed quite a good proyect for the Armada needs. So was selected. As we all know, SCS never left the proyectist´s table, so Bazán shipbuilders were left alone with a handful of very basic plans that had to be converted into a full size aircraft carrier. The task was bigger than they had imagined, but in the end, the SCS was devoloped in Spain and become the Príncipe de Asturias, a CVL much more capable than that imagined by Zumwalt.
The Príncipe de Asturias was commisioned in 1988. She´s due to an extended overhaul period and will probably remain active until 2025.
Her statistics are:
There is no commercial model of Príncipe de Asturias. I´ve heard some rumours lately that a well known resin company is considering to release it, but who kows for sure!
A couple of years ago, Ayala Botto mailed me offering to carry on with the works he had started on the Príncipe. Of course I could not say no and Ayala sent me very well built hull. I finished it and here is the result.
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