Salvador Moreno Fernández

Salvador Moreno Fernández (14 October 1886 – 2 May 1966) was a Spanish Navy admiral who participated in the coup d'état in Spain in July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic that triggered the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He fought on the Nationalist side during the war, in which the light cruiser under his command took part in the Málaga–Almería road massacre. After the war he held several positions during the Franco dictatorship, including service as Minister of the Navy from 1939 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1957. Posthumously, he has been stripped of some of his honors because of his support for the Francoist dictatorship and accused of war crimes.

Biography Early life Moreno was born in Ferrol on 14 October 1886, the son of Salvador Moreno y de Eliza — a Spanish Navy teniente de navío de 2ª clase (ship-of-the-line lieutenant second class) who later rose to the rank of vicealmirante (vice admiral) and was commander-in-chief of the Spanish Navy when he died in 1918 — and María Asunción Fernández y Antón. He grew up in Ferrol. Moreno as a capitán de corbeta (corvette captain), sometime between 1922 and 1931. Moreno's first assignments were to the gunboat , the armored cruiser , the gunboat , and the aviso Giralda, which at the time was the royal yacht. In 1914 he began a tour aboard the battleship . He was promoted to teniente de navío (ship-of-the-line lieutenant) in 1916 and began an assignment on the staff of the Spanish fleet as personal aide to his father, Vicealmirante (Vice Admiral) Salvador Moreno de Eliza. Upon completing this assignment, he returned to duty aboard España. He received the prestigious honorary title of Gentilhombre de cámara con ejercicio (Gentleman of the Bedchamber) to King Alfonso XIII in 1927,

On 23 July 1936, Moreno took command of Almirante Cervera. The siege ended in the complete annihilation of the Nationalist garrison. The last communication Moreno received from the besieged barracks before they fell to the Republicans was "Fire on us; the enemy is inside," but he did not act on it because he believed it was a Republican ruse.

Almirante Cervera returned to Ferrol on 15 August 1936, where Republican aircraft attacked her that day. On 17 August, she again got underway for the Bay of Biscay in company with the battleship España. Almirante Cervera'''s incessant activity during this cruise earned her the nickname "El Chulo del Cantábrico" ("The Bully of the Cantabrian") as she conducted continuous operations to support Nationalist troops on the northern front, bombarded enemy positions, and captured ships.

In October 1936, Almirante Cervera entered the Mediterranean Sea, then returned to the Strait of Gibraltar to protect Nationalist shipping, and she sank a launch and the coast guard vessels Uad Lucus and Uad Muluya on 9 October. She searched for the Republican naval squadron between in an attempt to intercept it as it headed south from the Bay of Biscay. Operating both alone and with the Canarias, she remained active constantly, capturing merchant ships, transporting Nationalist troops, escorting convoys, and bombarding Republican positions, including on 11 January 1937 when Almirante Cervera and Canarias bombarded Republican forces defending Málaga.

Moreno was promoted to capitán de navío (ship-of-the-line captain)

With Canarias′s repairs complete and the last of her guns installed, Moreno received orders to deploy to the Bay of Biscay to intercept two cargo ships known to be bound for Spain with war matériel for Republican forces. Canarias found the first of them, Galdames, in the Cantabrian Sea on 5 March 1937 as Galdames, on a voyage from Bayonne, France, under escort by four Basque Auxiliary Navy trawlers, was trying to reach the cover of defensive minefields off Bilbao. In the ensuing Battle of Cape Machichaco, Canarias drove off the trawler Guipuzkoa with heavy damage, sank the trawler Nabarra and captured her 20 survivors, and seized Galdames. A few months later, Nabarra′s survivors were tried by court-martial and sentenced to death, but Moreno, impressed by the courage shown by Nabarra′s crew, interceded on their behalf with Francisco Franco, leading Franco to pardon them and release them in recognition of their bravery.

On 8 March 1937, Canarias captured the second cargo ship, the motor ship Mar Cantábrico, which was disguised as a British ship and was bound from Mexico to Spain loaded with war matériel for Republican forces, including 10 airplanes, 50 artillery pieces, 500 machine guns, and 14 million rifle cartridges.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Civil War concluded on 1 April 1939 in victory for the Nationalists and the establishment of Francoist Spain. By a decree of 30 May 1939, the Francoist government awarded Moreno the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand for his role in gaining Nationalist control of Almirante Cervera in 1936.

Later career During a visit to the United States as Minister of the Navy, Moreno (left) shakes hands with United States Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on 10 May 1955.In July 1939 Moreno was promoted to contralmirante (counter admiral), Spain officially remained neutral in the war, although it did participate by sending volunteer formations, the Blue Division and later the Blue Legion, to fight alongside the Axis powers on the Eastern Front and by building submarines for the German Kriegsmarine, an effort in which Moreno participated.

After concluding his first stint as minister of the navy on 20 July 1945, and was reappointed Minister of the Navy on 19 July 1951. As minister, he presided over a commission that represented Spain at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London on 2 June 1953 and was among the guests at the coronation ceremony itself. He continued to serve as minister of the navy until 25 February 1957. His remains finally were interred at the Pantheon on 7 June 1973 with the highest honors possible in the Spanish Navy, equivalent to those for a captain general of the Navy killed in action aboard his flagship while in command of the fleet. He also was named a Favorite Son of Ferrol.

Honors and awards Francoist Spain Naval Medal

Gold Medal of Youth Silver Medal of El Ferrol del Caudillo

Foreign

Moreno also was a knight of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem

Criminal accountability and stripping of honors In the 21st century, Spain began to take action to address the legacy of the Franco regime as well as the posthumous reputation of its supporters, including Moreno. In 2002, the street in Pontevedra named for him was renamed.

Posthumously, Moreno was one of 35 high-ranking officials of the Franco regime indicted by the Audiencia Nacional'' (National Court) in a case brought in 2006 by Baltasar Garzón for crimes of illegal detention and crimes against humanity they committed during the Spanish Civil War and in the early years of the regime that followed. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that Garzón's classification of the acts as "crimes against humanity" was erroneous as a matter of legal principle because the concept of such crimes was not defined until after the events in question took place.

The Association for Democratic Military Memory submitted a petition to the Spanish Ministry of Defense in 2024 for the exhumation of Moreno's remains and the removal of his commemorative plaque and tombstone from the Pantheon of Illustrious Mariners, invoking the 2022 Democratic Memory Law, which mandated the removal of symbols of the Francoist dictatorship and prohibited its promotion or glorification. The petition succeeded, and Moreno's remains were exhumed on 3 August 2024 and returned to his family.