The Blas de Lezo class cruisers were a group of two cruisers built for 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...

 in the 1920s. The ships were ordered in 1915 but construction proceeded slowly due to materials shortages during World War I. The ships were built 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 and showed considerable British design influence, resembling contemporary British C class cruisers

C class cruiser

The C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in a sequence of seven classes known as the Caroline , Calliope , Cambrian , Centaur , Caledon , Ceres and Carlisle classes...

.

Mendez Nunez was reconstructed into an anti-aircraft cruiser in 1944. She was re-armed with 8 - 120mm Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 anti-aircraft guns in single mountings, 4x2 37mm

3.7 cm FlaK 43

The 3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43 were series of anti-aircraft cannon produced by Nazi Germany, which saw widespread service in the Second World War. The cannon was fully automatic and effective against aircraft flying at altitudes up to 4200 meters. The cannon was produced in both towed and...

 and 2x4 20mm

2 cm FlaK 30

The Flak 30 and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout the Second World War. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun, but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war...

 light AA guns of German origin. The superstructure was completely rebuilt and fitted with modern fire control equipment. Two triple banks of torpedo tubes were retained.

Ships

Ship	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Blas de Lezo	27 July 1922	March 1925	Wrecked 11 July 1932
Mendez Nunez	3 March 1923	1924	Stricken 1963

• The Blas de Lezo was named after Admiral Blas de Lezo
  Blas de Lezo
  Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta , also known as "Patapalo" , and later as "Mediohombre" for the many wounds suffered in his long military life, was a Spanish admiral, and one of the greatest strategists and commanders in the history of the Spanish Navy...
  
  . She struck a rock near Cape Finisterre
  Cape Finisterre
  right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
  
   in 1932 and sank in deep water.
• The Mendez Nunez was named after Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez
  Casto Méndez Núñez
  Casto Secundino María Méndez Núñez , Spanish military naval officer. Born in Vigo . In 1866 during the Chincha Islands War between Spain, Peru and Chile, he was General Commander of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific...
  
  . She was based in Equatorial Guinea 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...
  
  , She returned home to fight for the Republican Navy. In 1939 she was interned in Bizerte and returned to Spanish control serving until 1963.