"Two ships of the class were built upon a British design and were a modified version of the Royal Navy's County class. Baleares was constructed in Spain by the Vickers-Armstrongs subsidiary Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, and saw service during the Spanish Civil War.
On 12 July 1937, Baleares encountered six Republican destroyers escorting two merchant vessels near Valencia. After a brief exchange of fire, the Republican ships escaped.
In the afternoon of 7 September 1937, Baleares encountered four Republican merchant ships escorted by the cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez and six destroyers off Algeria in what became known as the Battle of Cape Cherchell. While the destroyers and merchants broke off the engagement, Libertad and Méndez Núñez engaged Baleares. The cruiser was damaged by several hits from Libertad in critical areas and a fire in the 120 mm (4.7 in) ammunition storeroom, but she limped away successfully. Two Republican freighters changed course to the south during the engagement and ran aground near Cape Cherchell. One of them was lost while the other was salvaged and interned by French authorities.
In March 1938, Baleares—along with fellow Nationalist cruisers Canarias and Almirante Cervera—engaged the Republican cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez, accompanied by five destroyers, off Cartagena, in the Battle of Cape Palos. At around 02:15 am on 6 March, the Nationalist and Republican cruisers engaged in an ineffective gunnery duel. During this gunnery duel, the Republican destroyers Sánchez Barcáiztegui, Lepanto, and Almirante Antequera all fired their torpedoes. Two or three torpedoes from Lepanto hit Baleares between "A" and "B" turrets, detonating her forward magazine and sinking her. Out of her crew of 1,206, she had 765 seamen killed or missing, among them Vice-Admiral Manuel Vierna Belando, commander of the cruiser division.
The British destroyers Boreas and Kempenfelt rescued part of the survivors, although a Republican air attack interrupted the rescue and caused one British fatality.
A monument to the crew killed in the sinking of Baleares has been erected in Palma de Mallorca. In the Basque town of Ondárroa, from which many of the crew members came, there are two monuments honoring Baleares, in the port and the cemetery."
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The Memorial
"The monument was inaugurated in 1947 by Francisco Franco but, sparked controversy in recent years due to its fascist inscriptions and the use of Franquist heraldics. In the light of the new Spanish Ley de Memoria Histórica (Law of Historic Memory, 2007) it is now no longer legal to display insignia, street names or other references glamourising the atrocities of the time of the Civil War, of Franco or of his followers.
The monument was left intact, complete with its water basin and fountains but, was stripped of any inscription and the coat of arms of the Franco regime. Instead, a metal band was erected by the pool of water with the following text in five languages (Catalan, Castellano, French, English and German):
This monument was built in 1948 in memory of the victims of the sinking of the cruiser Baleares during the Civil War (1936-1939). Today it is a symbol of the city of the democratic will to never forget the horrors of war and dictatorship. Palma 2010"
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Relief carvings of military personnel have been left at the base of the memorial. They stand facing each other and although carrying rifles they are standing in mourning pose with theie rifles reversed.