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 on September 29, 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and a squadron of Republican destroyers.
The Nationalist conspirators at Ferrol had been able to seize the city's naval base in July, but at a large co...
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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 on September 29, 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and a squadron of Republican destroyers.
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 old battleship España (formerly the Alfonso XIII), the cruisers Almirante Cervera and the unfinished Canarias, two light cruisers, one destroyer, 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.
At the start of the war, the...
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