Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa in the war with Spain in 1898. Plaque donate by Jo Hayes Camp, Spanish War Veterans of Ottumwa". Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa Infanta María Teresa was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruiser constructed for the Spanish Navy. The ship fought at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War. "Infanta María Teresa" was built at Bilbao, northern Spain, to a design drawn up by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company of Jarrow, England. Her keel was laid in 1889, she was launched on 30 August 1890, and was completed in 1893. She had two funnels
Heavy cruiser battleship sailed at 20 knots, this would mean that an armored cruiser would have to steam at least 26 or 27 knots. Armoured cruisers could not fulfill these criteria without being built much larger and taking on a different form than they had in the past. The result was the battlecruiser. HMS "Invincible" and her two sister ships were designed specifically to fulfill these requirements. In a sense they were an extension of the armoured cruiser as a fast, heavily armed scout, commerce protector and cruiser-destroyer, reflected in the term originally ascribed to them, "large armored cruiser". However, they were