Fernando Villaamil

Fernando Villaamil Fernández-Cueto (November 23, 1845 – July 3, 1898) was a Spanish Navy officer best known being the inventor of the destroyer and for his death in action during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War.

In 1861 he entered the Spanish Navy Colegio Naval de San Fernando, and one year later he went, as midshipman, aboard the frigate Esperanza, the first of the long series of warships on which he would serve his nation until the final Furor.

Once he reached his conclusions on the subject, he obtained the agreement of the Minister of the Navy, Manuel Pezuela, and selected the British shipyards of James & George Thompson, in Clydebank to build the new vessel, beginning in late 1885.

Villaamil was assigned to Great Britain to supervise the works and study the operating procedures of the British naval dockyards, as well as the new Engineers corps.

On January 19, 1887, the Destructor, the first torpedo boat destroyer,[1] was formally handed over to the Spanish Navy, with great expectations from the European naval community.

[2] Villaamil was a strong advocate of oceanic sailing as the best training for the young Navy officers and in 1892, being appointed commander of the corvette Nautilus he took advantage of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of America's discovery to get approval for an instruction cruise around the world, rounding the three Great Capes.

He wrote: "While I'm not in a position to decipher the aims that this nation has set itself [...], I notice that in the last years, in an unexpected way, it devotes its attention and money to acquiring warships that represent the latest advances in naval engineering".

Then, events rushed ahead: tension with the United States was rising quickly, and on February 16, 1898—the day following the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana—Villaamil was appointed Chief of the First Division of torpedo boats and destroyers.

Instead, he advocated trying to offset the superiority of the American forces by scattering the fleet and taking the initiative through quick and dispersed daring actions; and he even volunteered to lead an audacious diversionary attack to New York with his destroyers, but his proposals were not accepted.