Spain's navy with a new name

The "Armada Española" is passé!

The Spanish navy has been called "Armada Española" since Franco's time, no "Real" before that, because at that time the Generalissimo ruled - and the king was far behind. Before that it was called "Marina Española" (after restructuring in the early 1900s), and before that also "Marina de Guerra" (sometime in the 19th century). But for what feels like an eternity and various catastrophic defeats before that, it was called the "Armada" - or the "Invincible" when things were going well. Now the national name "Española" is to be dropped and the Spanish naval forces will be known simply as the "Armada". This will apply from 15 March 2022 and it may take some time for the name change to be implemented in all papers, documents and regulations - but above all, it will be expensive.

All kinds of justifications

According to some, the constitution allows for this, and the Spanish army and air force do not have a national designation either. Prestigious navies have no need for this, say others - see Marine Nationale (France), Marina Militare (Italy), Royal Navy (Great Britain) and Marinha (Portugal). Still others accuse the ruling socialists and communists of "patriotism" because they wanted to cut out the "Spanish" everywhere and not allow the "royal" - and insult the Admiralty for being insufficiently straightforward (the actual Spanish imprecation is very crude and cannot be translated here). But why - they countered - they were only returning to the historical roots of the "Armada".

Corporate identity, or identity crisis?

Officially, the Ministry of Defence in Madrid justifies the change of heart with a new modern-style corporate identity, although this only affects the navy. An international player - certainly not the "main player", but with weight and prestige - but now without any indication of nationality, flimsily derived and probably intended for left-wing political reasons: there is still fuel for the fire.