Battle of Cape Spartel
Part of theSpanish Civil War
Date 29 September 1936 Location Cape Spartel, nearTangier, present-dayMorocco Result Nationalist victory
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain
Commanders and leaders
Fernando Navarro Capdevila	Francisco Moreno Fernández
Strength
2 destroyers	1 heavy cruiser 1 light cruiser
Casualties and losses
1 destroyer sunk 1 destroyer damaged	None

TheBattle of Cape Spartel (Cabo Espartel in Spanish) was anaval battle of theSpanish Civil War that broke theRepublicannaval blockade of theStrait of Gibraltar, securing the maritime supply route toSpanish Morocco for theNationalists early in the war. The action occurred on 29 September 1936 between two Nationalistcruisers and two Republicandestroyers.

The rebels atFerrol,Galicia, had been able to seize the city'snaval base in July 1936, but at a large cost: over 30 mutinousofficers had been shot dead by hundreds of sailors loyal to the Republic.

Their prize included the oldbattleshipEspaña (formerlyAlfonso XIII), the cruiserAlmirante Cervera, the unfinishedCanarias andBaleares, an older cruiser undergoing repairs (Navarra), onedestroyer, and a number oftorpedo boats andsloops. In September, a small squadron, includingAlmirante Cervera andCanarias, steamed from Ferrol to engage the Republican navy.

At the start of the war, theSpanish Republican Navy had the battleshipJaime I, three light cruisers, 14 destroyers, plus five submarines. In addition toEspaña, the two cruisers and one destroyer taken by the Nationalists, by the following year they had completedBaleares andCanarias. They also had purchased four destroyers and two submarines fromFascist Italy.^[1] 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 Nationalists engaged a squadron of Republican destroyers stationed on the western end of the Straits shortly after 6:30 am. The destroyerGravina was deployed nearCape Spartel, while her sister shipAlmirante Ferrándiz was patrolling offCeuta.^[2] A fierce exchange of fire followed, during which the destroyerAlmirante Ferrándiz was chased and eventually sunk byCanarias in theAlboran Sea after a 40-minute engagement, whileGravina was pursued and hit twice byAlmiranteCervera along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The main guns ofCanarias found their mark at a range of 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) with their second salvo, while those ofAlmiranteCervera performed poorly. The surviving Republican destroyer retreated towardCasablanca.Almirante Ferrándiz, having been hit six times, blew up and sank 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) south ofCalaburras. Thirty-one seamen fromAlmirante Ferrándiz were rescued byCanarias, while the French linerKoutubia picked up another 26, including her commander, José Luis Barbastro Jiménez. This action was decisive to open the Straits to the insurgents' shipping.^[3][4][5]

• List of classes of Spanish Nationalist ships of the Spanish Civil War
• Spanish Civil War Republican ship classes
• Convoy de la victoria

• Thomas, Hugh (1979).La guerra civil española. Volume 6. Ediciones Urbión, p. 184.ISBN 84-85266-54-4.(in Spanish)
• Cortada, James:Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. Greenwood Press, 1982.ISBN 0-313-22054-9

• Summary of Major Campaigns and Offensives

36°14′47″N4°38′30″W / 36.24639°N 4.64167°W /36.24639; -4.64167

• 1936 in Spain
• Naval battles of the Spanish Civil War
• Maritime incidents in 1936
• Military history of Tangier
• Mediterranean naval operations of the Spanish Civil War
• Atlantic naval operations of the Spanish Civil War
• September 1936 in Europe
• 1936 in Morocco

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