Battle of Cape Espartel

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For the 1782 American Revolutionary War naval battle, see Battle of Cape Spartel.

Date	September 29, 1936
Location	Strait of Gibraltar, near Tangier, present-day Morocco
Result	Nationalist victory

Belligerents

Spanish Republic

Nationalist Spain

Commanders

Unknown

Francisco Moreno

Strength

3 destroyers

2 heavy cruisers

Casualties and losses

1 destroyer sunk
1 destroyer damaged

Unknown

v • d • e

Spanish Civil War

Alcázar – Gijón – Oviedo – Guipúzcoa - Mérida – Badajoz – Mallorca – Sierra Guadalupe – Irún - Monte Pelato – Talavera – Cape Espartel – Madrid – Corunna Road – Málaga – Jarama - War in the North – Guadalajara – Guernica – Bilbao – Brunete – Santander – Belchite – El Mazuco – Cape Cherchell – Teruel – Cape Palos - Aragon Offensive - XYZ Line – Ebro - Catalonia
Chronology: 1936 1937 1938-39

The Battle of Cape Espartel was a naval battle of the Spanish Civil War that broke the Republican blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, securing the naval supply route to Spanish Morocco for the Nationalists early in the war. The action erupted September 29, 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and a squadron of Republican destroyers. The Republicans lost two ships to enemy fire and retreated to port, where they remained for most of the war.

1 Background
2 The battle
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Background

The Nationalist conspirators at Ferrol had been able to seize the city's naval base in July, but at a large cost to the Spanish Navy: Over thirty officers had been shot by hundreds of mutinous sailors, loyal to the Revolution, that were imprisoned afterwards or killed in the fighting.

Their prize included the ageing battleship España, the cruisers Almirante Cervera and the unfinished Canarias, and a number of torpedo boats and sloops. In September a small squadron, including the Almirante Cervera and Canarias, steamed from Ferrol to engage the Republican navy.

[edit] The battle

The Nationalists attacked a squadron of Republican destroyers stationed near Cape Espartel on the western end of the Straits. A fantastically bitter exchange of fire followed during which the destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz was sunk and the Gravina was blackened and wrecked. The surviving Republican destroyer retreated.