The Battle of Cape Spartel (''Cabo Espartel'' in Spanish) was a naval battle of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

that broke the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

of the Strait of Gibraltar, securing the maritime supply route to Spanish Morocco for the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

early in the war. The action occurred on 29 September 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and two Republican destroyers.

Background

The rebels at Ferrol, Galicia, had been able to seize the city's

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

in July, but at a large cost: over 30 mutinous

officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

had been shot by hundreds of sailors loyal to the Republic. Their prize included the old battleship ''España'' (formerly ), the cruiser , the unfinished and , a cruiser undergoing repairs (), one destroyer, and a number of

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s and

sloops A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

. In September, a small squadron, including ''Almirante Cervera'' and ''Canarias'', steamed from Ferrol to engage the Republican navy. At the start of the war, the

Spanish Republican Navy The Spanish Republican Navy was the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. History In the same manner as the other two branches of the Spanish Republi ...

had the battleship , three light cruisers, 14 destroyers, plus five submarines. In addition to ''España'', the two cruisers and one destroyer taken by the Nationalists, by the following year they had completed ''Baleares'' and ''Canarias''. They also had purchased four destroyers and two submarines from Fascist Italy. The Nationalists established a blockade of the Republican-held coastline for the entire duration of the war, but their paucity of ships limited the blockade's effectiveness.

The battle

The Nationalists engaged a squadron of Republican destroyers stationed on the western end of the Straits shortly after 6:30 am. The destroyer ''Gravina'' was deployed near Cape Spartel, while her sister ship was patrolling off

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

. A fierce exchange of fire followed, during which the destroyer ''Almirante Ferrándiz'' was chased and eventually sunk by ''Canarias'' in the Alboran Sea after a 40-minute engagement, while ''Gravina'' was pursued and hit twice by ''Almirante'' ''Cervera'' along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The main guns of ''Canarias'' found their mark at a range of with their second salvo, while those of ''Almirante'' ''Cervera'' performed poorly. The surviving Republican destroyer retreated toward Casablanca. ''Almirante Ferrándiz,'' having been hit six times, blew up and sank south of Calaburras. Thirty-one seamen from ''Almirante Ferrándiz'' were rescued by ''Canarias'', while the French liner ''Koutubia'' picked up another 26, including her commander, José Luis Barbastro Jiménez. This action was decisive to open the Straits to the insurgents' shipping.

Notes

References

* Thomas, Hugh (1979). ''La guerra civil española''. Volume 6. Ediciones Urbión, p. 184. . * Cortada, James: ''Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.'' Greenwood Press, 1982.

External links

Summary of Major Campaigns and Offensives
{{Tangier 1936 in Spain Cape Spartel Maritime incidents in 1936 History of Tangier Cape Spartel Cape Spartel September 1936 events 1936 in Morocco

Background

The battle

See also

Notes

References

External links