„Santa Leocadia“ – the Spanish frigate

The Spanish shipyard Ferrol has long been, known for building large quantities of warships. Large warships were built here, such as the "San Jozef", a 114-gun, 3-deck sline-ship. "Santa Leokadia" was also built in the same shipyard in 1777. It was a large frigate with a displacement of 951 tons. "Santa Leocadia's" dimensions allowed it to accommodate 44 cannons. The main deck held 26-28 18-pounder guns without any problems. When she was captured by the British, "Santa Leocadia" had only 34 guns on her decks and her main armament consisted of 26 8-pounders. The rest were 4-pounder guns, placed on the fore and aft decks. In 1781 combat operations between Spain and England took place in the form of individual ship chases and operations to intercept enemy convoys. It was in this way, that the "Santa Leocadia" was captured on May 1 of that year. In an encounter with the British battleship HMS "Canada", armed with 74 28- and 32-pounder guns, 28 18-pounder guns and 12 9-pounder guns, the Spanish ship had no chance of victory. According to the report of November 24, 1785, "Santa Leocadia" was a relatively fast ship for those times, developing a speed of over 12 knots, easily controlled and maneuverable in any weather conditions, not succumbing to either transverse or longitudinal rolling. She remained in British service until September 23, 1794, when she was sold.

The model is well designed and detailed, very complex, so we recommend gluing it only to intermediate and experienced modelers, even for them it will not be an easy job.