Spanish ship San Ildefonso
San Ildefonso was a ship of the Spanish Navy, built at Cartagena, Spain to a design by José Romero Fernández de Landa and launched in 1785. She was designed to be lighter than traditional Spanish vessels which had had difficulty matching the speed of ships of the Royal Navy. Though completed as a 74-gun ship, and always rated as such, San Ildefonso actually carried 80 cannons and obuses by the time of Trafalgar. She saw service against French and British vessels in the late 18th century, sailed twice to the Americas and was trapped in Cádiz by the British blockade. San Ildefonso was captured by the British third-rate at the Battle of Trafalgar and successfully weathered the storm afterwards to be taken into Royal Navy service as HMS Ildefonso.
Design
San Ildefonso has been described as a technical milestone in 18th-century Spanish shipbuilding. Having fought the Royal Navy in various wars the Spanish admirals were concerned that their ships could not match equivalent British vessels for speed. San Ildefonso incorporated many amendments from traditional Spanish designs in order to improve her speed. Instead of traditional iron bolts holding the hull together the vessel utilised much lighter wooden treenails, the upper parts of the ship were made from pine and cedar instead of oak to reduce weight and lower the centre of gravity and the vessel was constructed shorter in length than a traditional Spanish seventy-four would be.Armament
Although completed with 74 guns, she was later re-armed in accordance with the October 1803 Ordnance Regulations, and by the time of her participation at the Battle of Trafalgar, San Ildefonso actually carried a total of 80 guns, comprising 28 × 24-pounder long guns on her lower deck, 30 × 24-pounder long guns on her upper deck, 4 × 8-pounder long guns and 8 × 30-pounder obuses on her quarterdeck, 2 × 8-pounder long guns and 2 × 30-pounder obuses on her forecastle, and 6 × 24-pounder obuses on her poop. However, unlike most other Spanish ships of the line, San Ildefonso did not carry any four-pounder anti-personnel obuses on her poop.Spanish service
San Ildefonso was designed by José Romero Fernández de Landa and built by him at the naval dockyard in Cartagena. She was ordered on 23 February 1784 with her keel being laid down a little over a month later. She took ten months to build, being launched on 22 January 1785. She began a forty-day sea trial period on 19 August 1785 but shortly afterwards was disarmed at Cartagena and placed in reserve for two years and nine months. San Ildefonso was refitted in 1788 and underwent more trials before being placed into reserve once more in October of that year. She was reactivated again in April 1789 and made a cruise to Cádiz in August, becoming damaged on the way. San Ildefonso underwent a third period of reserve later that year before being reactivated and having her interior layout rearranged.San Ildefonso then sailed on campaign against the French and British navies for four years beginning in 1793. She returned to port at Cádiz on 3 March 1797 and was subsequently blockaded in that port by the Royal Navy. San Ildefonso sailed to America twice from 1798 to 1802 as an escort to convoys of galleons. During these voyages artillery officer Luis Daoiz de Torres, who would later lead the Spanish forces against French troops in the Dos de Mayo Uprising, served aboard the ship due to a shortage of trained naval officers. San Ildefonso was placed in reserve at Ferrol in 1802 for the last time in her career. After another period of refit in July and August 1805 she joined the main Spanish fleet prior to the Battle of Trafalgar. In her career to this point San Ildefonso had been in Spanish service for 21 years but had spent 9 of those years disarmed in reserve and had not fought any engagements.