High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Tornado was a 2100-ton and maneuverable at 13 knots bark-rigged screw steam cruiser of the Spanish Navy, first launched at Clydebank, Scotland in 1863, as the Confederate raider CSS Texas. She is most famous for having captured the North American filibustering ship Virginius, which led to the Virginius Affair and to the Spanish-American Crisis of 1873.