armada

i think this document is mis-tagged because it is exactly the same as this one : www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/4100761011/ where it is called "Travel Document for the Schooner Syrena Permitting Transport from Africa to Havana, Cuba, 1817"

Thanks for the head's up- we're looking into it! Kristen (U.S. National Archives)

Aha! See this page on Battleship Moreno. Clearly this is one of the Rivadavia class battleships, of which only two were built, the Moreno, or the Rivadavia, I presume. Quoting, briefly, from that site: Laid down on July 9, 1910, launched on June 28, 1911 and commissioned in December 1914, Moreno carried a main armament of twelve 12 inch main guns mounted two per turret. Two superfiring turrets were on the centerline both fore and aft and there was one wing turret per side that could fire both fore and aft and to both sides. An article in the New York Times about Moreno is here. Wikipedia article about Rivadavia class--uses this photo, so it appears this is no big news!

It appears that one was launched from Quincy, MA, per NYTimes: "QUINCY, Mass., Aug. 26. -- The biggest battleship in the world was launched at the Fore River Shipbuilding Yards here to-day. The vessel in question is the Rivadavia, and when she is finished about a year hence she will steam south to become the principal unit in the fighting fleet of the Argentine Republic. " (8/27/1911)

amazing! :) -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

Above photo shows the Rivadavia moored at Quincy shipyard for some finishing touches, over a year after launch in August, 1911. The photo is dated Dec. 2, 1912. The ship was commissioned by the Argentine Navy in 1914, and sold for scrap in 1956: www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/argentina/pages/r... A 1911 Bain/LOC photo of the Rivadavia shows it at sea after launch, but before completion: Another photo of the Rivadavia moored at Quincy for finishing touches -- photo is dated Dec. 2, 1912: Two photos of the Rivadavia being refurbished in dry dock at Charlestown, Mass., in 1913:

The Rivadavia features here as well

El "Nueva España" fue un buque cañonero-torpedero de la Armada Española, que entró en servicio en 1891. El barco fue destinado al apostadero de La Habana. Tras participar en la Guerra de Cuba en 1898, regresó a España, donde fue destinado al Mediterráneo, sirviendo sobre todo en la costa Levantina y Baleares. Fue dado de baja en la Armada en 1914. The "Nueva España" was a Spanish Navy (Armada Española) gunboat-torpedo boat that entered service in 1891. The ship was destined for La Habana. After participating in the Spanish-American War, he returned to Spain, where he was assigned to the Levante coast in the Mediterranean Sea. He was decommissioned in 1914.